


Mystery Skulls - Ghost

by TheVeR



Series: Mystery Skulls - Ghost [1]
Category: Ghost - Mystery Skulls (Music Video), Mystery Skulls Animated
Genre: Novelization, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-30
Updated: 2014-12-14
Packaged: 2018-02-27 14:18:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 34,836
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2696120
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheVeR/pseuds/TheVeR
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Mystery Skulls are a ghost hunting group dedicated to investigating and debunking paranormal activity, or gathering the improbable evidence that supports eye witness claims.  It has been some time since Arthur's accident and the team's work has trickled back into some semblance of normality, but nothing will ever be the same.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

##### 

Whisper

The dream again.

Falling into the black. Crooked spikes stretching up, reaching. Hungry teeth to skewer meat, then it’s all over. Mercifully quick. He couldn’t believe it happened, he hadn’t the strength to stop to it. What had happened?

 

It was all a blur after that. He remembered how cold he felt, how weak he was as Vivi screamed at him. He didn’t understand what had happened at first, if he had been aroused suddenly from a dead sleep. He thought he was asking, nearly begging her to explain.

“What happened? What happened?” But his mind couldn’t coordinate the confusion of words in his throat with his numb lips. Too much pain and his body was impossibly weak. Bright lights burned into his eyes. And Mystery. It was Mystery, wasn’t it? Sitting beside the people jerking at his clothing and jamming needles into his body. He remembered those red eyes staring at him with such clear focus, as if gazing through him and into his soul.

__

The hot sun dug into his eyelids, making his face feel unnecessarily warm. He opened his eyes a crack and glared through the windshield tilted above him. Judging by the suns position in the sky it had to be a little before noon, but it was hard to decide the specific time of day following the falls hourly time change. He blinked at the wetness in his eyes and reached his hand up to dry his face, but rather rub his eyes gently he smashed the mechanical arm into his nose and prompted him to jolt upright.

“Oh god,” Arthur groaned. He pressed he cold palm to his face to ease the pain. His rash motions upset the dog curled up in his lap, and with a whimper Mystery squirmed around until he was facing Arthur, concern in his eyes. “M’okay.” He reached his flesh hand to the dogs head and scratched behind his ear. “Still not used to this.”

After reassuring his companion, he moved his good arm to drape over the drivers back seat and pulled himself up more to sit. Arthur had the front seats to lay across, while Vivi took the more spacious back. Arthur watched Vivi where she was curled up in a nest of sleeping bag and a blanket, the pillow in her care was a few feet from her head. Arthur pulled up his own blanket, crushed between him and the seats, and carefully this time dabbed at his sticky face.

Mystery gave a low whine as he leaned across his companions lap and nudged his cool nose at the digits of the false arm. Arthur couldn’t feel the fur or the nose, but he could detect the pressure and distress the dog projected his way. Arthur put his arm around the dogs neck and pulled him closer and pressed his face into the soft white fur.

“It’s okay,” Arthur murmured. “It’ll be okay.” Mystery curled up into a tight ball against his chest as he leaned back on the driver’s door. Arthur shut his eyes and worked to ease the sorrow from his mind before Vivi awoke and questioned his broken expression.

__

The assignment was a relatively simple one. No mention of spiritual hostility but the owners of the home just voiced concerns, they didn’t want to believe that someone had been confined to their home and the activity had been growing more frequent as of late. Arthur had noticed that their group had been given easier and less assignments, but that shouldn’t have come as a great shock. Vivi didn’t seem to mind, he knew she worried about him too much. 

They unpacked the essential equipment from the van and hauled the readers and the camera to the upstairs bedroom, where the couple noted most of the activity. Mystery remained in the back keeping an eye on the laptop, that was connected to the camera that was already recording in the house. Arthur swore the dog was looking for something.

“I’m getting some high electric readings from the walls here, where the plugs are, “Vivi said. She held the small electric reader in her hand as the lights flared on the top. “That would easily explain the creepy feelings they’ve been getting.”

Arthur had gone into the bathroom, admiring the cleanliness of the floor and sink area, where the couple had set their towels. “The place was built in the 1800s,” he added. “But it was recently renovated when they moved in,” he paused. “How long ago was that?”

“Two years,” Vivi said. She moved the sensor towards the ceiling fan above the bed. “It correlates with their accounts that the activity had been increasing, since they moved in.”

Arthur did some of the math in his head, but Vivi was the one that kept on top of the local history of their assignments and the finer details of witness accounts. “Did they start renovations before they moved in, or after?”

“Between.” Vivi appeared in the doorway of the bathroom. She lowered the black device gripped in her hand, as she scanned over the walls and mirror. “They had to restore some of the house to make it livable, then finished up after they were settled.”

Arthur tried the faucets and listened as the water rumbled in the pipes somewhere in the walls. The sound was nonspecific, but the couple said they heard voices. “What I wouldn’t give to recount a timeline with the accuracy you have,” Arthur said. He turned the water up full blast and the rumbling stopped.

“I just pay attention,” Vivi said, a slight shrug and the hint of a smirk in her lips. “Nice bathroom.”

“You do more than that,” Arthur insisted. “I’m terrible with dates and history and… keeping facts straight in my head.”

Vivi opened the cupboard nearest to the bathrooms doorway and knelt to examine the interior. Freshly folded towels were stacked inside, a few shampoo bottles and some bars of packaged soap met her eyes. The silver pipes in the back looked solid. “You’re great with the equipment,” she said, and giggled. “I can barely update my iPod without it crashing. Thanks, by the way.”

“You’re welcome,” Arthur said. Whenever her iPod did freeze up, which was too often in his opinion, Arthur would troubleshoot it for her. He shut off the water and listened. “Hey, Vivi?”

“Yeah?” She stood up. In the walls there was a faint rattle as somewhere in the pipes the pressure stabilized after use. Vivi raised the electro gauge towards the bright lamps above the mirror and registered a high increase in current. “Looks like this might just be your typical case of shoddy restoration. Arthur?” She turned to him when he failed to continue after her prompt. “What’d you need?”

Arthur shakes his head. “Er, ah— The owners left the attic open for us. Sorry,” Arthur said, smiling. “I was thinking over the interior layout of the house, and it seems like common draft through vents in the roof. Maybe we should check that out next?”

“Good plan.” Vivi closed the cupboards and exited the bathroom. “After running the water, we might get some interesting sounds.”

With a sigh Arthur followed. “Yeah. That’s what I meant.” As he moved past the windows he couldn’t resist a glance at his arm, glinting under the bright light beside his amber vest.

__

The assignment turned out more successful than Vivi and Arthur had initially thought. A lot of their paranormal investigations turned out to be nothing but the usual in old homes and unkempt buildings - the foundation settling, old uninsulated wiring, even bats in the walls; there were the few cases of sham artists with tape recorders that played from hidden spaces or rigging designed to catch the camera at a specific moment. A lot of disappointments, but the college funded their research regardless if anything was found. Sometimes exposing the falsities was enough as far their providers was concerned, but it was no satisfaction to find out their time had been wasted with overactive imaginations.

It was far into the night, Arthur was fueling himself with endless cups of bitter coffee while Vivi sat in the back of the van roving over the laptop and the evidence she was checking. While she listened for electronic voices, she worked with duplicates of all the images gathered trying to edit out the fuzziness of the night vision cameras.

“Arthur,” Vivi piped, as she leaned over the drivers seat. “What does this sound like to you?” She set the laptop down on the passengers seat and fitted the ear muffs over his ears, as Arthur kept his attention of the dark shapes of the forest around them. This was a common ritual as they drove, which was reason why he took the longer and sometimes outdated back roads. Arthur tilt his head as he focused on the loud scratching filled his ears of the raised volume. He was wary that a sudden sound would shut through his brain of something unnamed, usually someone’s heightened whisper as he or Vivi asking questions.

The voice that came through was an older woman, not Vivi by a long shot, not the home owners that had been outside at the time. Arthur had adjusted his senses well to identifying white noise that came through the electric recording and easily distinguished between a falsified recording and the genuine paranormal.

“Sounds like, ‘made the garden,’” Arthur finally said. “Weird.”

“I know, that’s what I thought.” Vivi slipped the ears muffs off Arthur’s head and raised up the laptop from the passengers seat. Mystery watched from his elected spot on the middle seat, curled beside Arthur’s leg. “That would correlate to the images I’m working on, the one’s of the figure staring out the master window into the backyard. It’s sweet if you think about it.”

Arthur smiled. “You mentioned that the house was uninhabitable when the new owners first bought it?” he said, his smile widening.

“Yeah, I did.” Vivi went ahead and double checked her current data, before closing the programs and shutting the laptop down. “Total wreck,” she went on. “Renovations would’ve cost nearly as much as the home itself. The yard was dead, full of weeds and junk. Then the owners moved in, cleaned it up.” Vivi stuffed the laptop up under the passengers seat, before she crawled over cushion to sit beside Mystery. Vivi set her hand between the dogs shoulder blades and scratched as he uncoiled and sat up. “Mrs. Ricewell wanted a garden.”

Vivi let her voice trail off, as Arthur poured himself another cup of lukewarm coffee. “Sounds straightforward to me,” he said. His metal hand fumbled to hold the plastic cup as he lifted it from the cup holder and to his lips, careful not to spill again. “Nothing hostile. Just there because the house was restored. I think that just sometimes happens.” Arthur took another sip and winced. The coffee was terrible.

“Hmm?” Vivi asked.

“Energy, I think. Like a battery,” Arthur said. He lowered the cup back to the cup holder; Vivi helped him guide his arm when it was apparent his aim was off. “I’ve been thinking up some theories for our separate report’s, and did my own research on places that have been abandoned. Other paranormal researches support the idea too, that activity kicks back up in a home again if people start to fix up the place. A house with no running energy, no people, it starts to degrade and maybe any spirits there begin to drift away. Spiritual energy has to be powered by something, it doesn’t make sense that a ghost is there just because.”

Vivi pondered over this as the van rumbled down the old road. The headlamps illuminated the skeletal trees and brush struggling to claim the earth that was paved over, in time there wouldn’t be a road here and the area would be forgotten. Aside from the soft light inside the vehicle there was no other radiance this far out from town and the stars blazed among wistful clouds with the backdrop of the dazzling quarter moon, outlining the gnarled tree branches with a golden haze. The sky beneath the moon, perhaps seared by some far off town, was a bubbling fuchsia beneath the dark sky.

“That would explain why activity kicks up when were around, if there’s any,” Vivi said. “You need to figure out a way to make dampers for the equipment, so spirits don’t tap into the batteries. It’s getting expensive to pack spares for just in case.”

“Good idea,” Arthur said, smirking her way. “Can’t believe I never thought of that.”

Vivi returned the smile. “That’s why we make such a great team,” she said. She gave Mystery a scratch on his shoulder when he leaned her way and yipped. “You too Mystery. You keep us from staying mad at each other.”

Arthur was about to reach over and take another swig of his coffee, when the engine faltered under his feet. He hesitated as the lamplights pulsed and the low rumble of the motor began to sputter out. “Oh no,” he muttered, raising a foot to the break to disengage cruise. “No-no… don’t do this.” He brought his hand back from the steering wheel when a bright flash zipped through his eyes and the interior light of the cab dimmed, leaving the impression of red in his retinas. “C’mon, don’t do this.” He pressed his foot to the gas and turned to give Vivi a defeated look as the lights dimmed once more.

“Arthur,” she said. “Did you fill up the tank like I told you to?”

“I did. I did!” he pleaded, grinning sheepishly. “I’m sure I did.” Arthur wasn’t so certain at this time, as the engine gave a final whine, then died completely. “Yeah,” he urged. “I remember putting the receipt in my pocket.”

“Then what could be the problem?” Vivi watched the erratic movement of the boo charm as it began to twist to a stop. She leaned forward opening the glove back in front of her and dug through the papers and spare battery boxes until her hands snapped over the flashlights handle. She handed the flashlight to Arthur as he reached under the steering wheel, feeling for the release handle with his good arm. “We’ve never had trouble with the van before.”

“I know,” he mumbled. The handle creaked as he jerked it out and the hood of the van thudded. “I’ll give it a look, see if something came loose. This roads not in the best of shape.”

Vivi watched as Arthur got out. When he shut the door, his beam bobbing under the dull haze of the night, she shared a glance with Mystery. “It’ll be all right,” she cooed. “he’ll be right back.” Mystery let out a soft whine that startled Vivi in its evident distress.

The hood of the van snapped up and Vivi watched the dark panel as the light bobbed around the sides and through the tight crease at the base of the windshield. She could hear Arthur fiddle around, his metal arm making audible clanking as he snapped it to the edge of the van whenever he leaned forward to fiddled with wires with his good arm. It seemed like hours that he worked and Vivi in that time had rested her hand on Myster’s head massaging his scalp, while the dog no doubt bore holes through the van’s hood to where Arthur stood. Finally, the hood swept down with a harsh snap and Arthur rounded the side to the driver’s side door.

“Can you give me some 99?” he asked, holding the flashlight as Vivi reached for the cup holders. They had a pump bottle of disinfectant in one of the cupholders, and Vivi leaned over to squirt the jelly liquid on his flesh palm. She pulled up a blue bandanna from the passenger doors pocket, the cloth had numerous dark stains on it and she used it to rub the grease off of Arthur’s hand.

“Thank you,” he said. He set the flashlight on the driver’s seat, and took the cloth when it was offered to him and cleaned off his metal knuckles. “I couldn’t find anything wrong with the engine. Absolutely nothing.”

Vivi thought over this as she watched him in the dark. Cool air breezed in through the open door, the night was filled with the scent of dirt and oil. “I’ll see if I can call a tow truck,” she said at last. Arthur made a sound under his breath but didn’t argue. Arthur moved the flashlight aside as he climbed up into the driver’s seat and shut the door. Vivi climbed over the seat into the back hunting for the phone. “Can you hand me the light?”

Arthur looked over as the light swung up when Mystery picked it up and handed it back to Vivi. She thanked the dog, and Arthur slumped down in his seat a little more. He ran through his mind all the methods he had used to replace and maintain the van, he was a trained mechanic and about a third of the engine was digital. It made no sense, and it annoyed him. Arthur kept his irritation to himself.

After several minutes, Vivi climbed back over the seat with the light while her thumb jammed at the touch screen of the phone. “No signal,” she said.

The three shared a collective sigh. For what felt like hours they sat debating a plan separately, not speaking until they had run through all the ideal scenarios until they had gathered a potential solution.

“We could tie Myster’s collar to the front bumper and have him pull us,” Arthur suggested. To this the dog growled, eyes flashing in the soft light of the flashlight at his paws. “Kidding. Kidding. Touche.”

“Or,” Vivi says, smoothing down Mystery’s raised ears, “you can put the van in neutral and push us for a bit. Maybe we’re just in a ditch?”

For a while Arthur said nothing, only gazed forward into the black daggers of trees and flat nothing. He nodded. “Knew you were going to suggest that,” he said. Arthur took the gear shift and struggled with the handle, it felt like it was fighting him. He adjusted the keys in the ignition trying to release the lever, partly he hoped the engine would just roar to life. He managed to unstick the handle and switched the van to neutral. As Arthur climbed out, Vivi hopped to the driver seat.

“Be careful,” she urged. “Don’t strain yourself too much.”

“I know, I know.” Arthur braced his toes to the road and gripped the frame of the door. Nothing happened for a while, until he grunted and adjusted his stance to a more comfortable position. Slowly, the van creaked forward. “Having fun?” he snorted.

“Not really,” Vivi confessed. They gained momentum and she became worried that they were heading up a hill that was steeper than she first anticipated. “Remember what I said.”

“I’m okay. Just let me concentrate.” Arthur felt his heart pounding, his left side throbbed where the compromised veins detoured circulation in his body. “Maybe you and Mystery should get out,” he panted. “Follow the van. It might help.”

There was a pause, Arthur didn’t try to study the expression on Vivi’s face, not in the dark. He remained focused on the road and the rubber tires crunching gravel. At last with hesitance she says, “You think that might really help?”

“I’m just kidding,” he said, with a hint of a chuckle. “I’ll quit here in a second. Have you gotten a signal on the phone?”

He saw the flutter of light in the corner of his eye as no doubt Vivi checked the phone at his prompt. Arthur felt something of relief when she gasped, but he didn’t expect her next exclamation.

“Art. Look!” Arthur raised his head and saw a shape down the road. An ambiguous and large shape with flat sides, in contrast with the sharp twisted angles of the surrounding woods. At first he couldn’t decide what it was Vivi wanted him to see, but as his eyes adjusted he could make out the soft tones of pink brushed down the sweeping sides of flat surfaces. Above the knotted tree branches curled the jagged horizon of symmetrical points across the top, dark slates slopped downward and glimmered beneath the moon. He felt a surge of adrenalin in his body as his mind began to place what the shape was that should be obvious to his eyes. “I’m not imagining it, am I?” Vivi said, skepticism in her tone. It was dark, it would be easy for the wishful mind to conjure an auto repair shop in the middle of the thick woods. But no, Arthur could see fully what Vivi was staring at.

“No,” Arthur huffed, trying to catch his breath. “It’s a house maybe?”

“More than a house,” Vivi went on. “A mansion.” She gazed unmoving for several minutes, as Arthur panted and strained with the heavy vehicle. “You wanna stop now?”

Arthur glanced up, saw the high brick wall glide from the black tangle of dry shrubs and grass. “No,” he assured. “Just a few more feet, then I’ll stop.” He regretted that almost immediately. The building was much further away than he anticipated, and more than once he debated on just stopping where they were.

“We’re here, Art. You can stop now.” Vivi reached over to grip his shoulder as his feet began dragging over the asphalt. “Sorry, it looked a lot closer than it was.”

Arthur leaned against the door as he caught his breath, his knees trembled now that he had stopped. “Yeah,” he said. “Things always change perspective in the dark. Dumb.”

“You okay?” Vivi asked, still holding his shoulder as he shuddered and gasped. “You’re not gonna collapse, are you?”

Arthur laughed and choked on his breath. “I’m not delicate china, Vi. Just a little out of breath.” He felt his metal arm slump at his side and leaned its way. “How’s the phone?”

There was a flash in his eyes as the screen pulsed on. “Better than you,” Vivi answered. “But still no sig— Shit.”

Arthur grimaced as he looked up. “Don’t tell me.”

“No power.” They said in unison. Mystery gave a soft whimper and shuffled around in the passenger seat. “Fuck,” Arthur muttered.

Vivi sighed and set the phone down in the cup holder with the disinfectant. “Let’s stay optimistic,” Vivi says, “and presume that whatever can go wrong at this point, must.”

“Yeah.” Arthur felt some of his strength come back and stood straight, turning to the tall building that they were stationary before. He blinked at the haze of the windows, the dark bronze coloration of the roof and ascents of the front door. A cold tingle worked up his spine and he visibly shook. “Place is spooky,” he said, louder than he meant too.

Nothing was said for a long time and a harsh silence fell over them, as if the dark windows and walkway of the home was judging their presence. It was an eerie sensation and Arthur decided he was the only one that felt it. Arthur jumped when Vivi broke the silence with a sudden statement.

“We should go inside.” Vivi nudged Arthur as she lowered down from the drivers seat, he stepped back as her feet crunched the dirt underfoot. The car doors clicked when she hit the unlatch button and she moved along the vans side to the back.

Arthur stuttered, “What?” He saw Mystery’s white fur skip through the light of the flashlight as he took up the torch and dropped from the open door of the cab. “Someone probably lives there.”

“You’re probably right,” Vivi says, around the back door of the van. Arthur leans through the driver’s side door as she climbs inside. “But it looks abandoned.”

Arthur glanced back at the yard under the bright glow of the moon and the cobblestone path that led up, toward the shimmering front of large doors that were ornate with stylized, lace frame beneath the forward facing balcony. Staring at the home, it seemed much large and imposing as he gawked at.

“Looks abandoned doesn’t always mean abandoned,” Arthur snapped. “I can push the van a little further up the road, it wouldn’t be trouble. Besides, it’s probably filthy inside. Could be infested with insects and mold. C’mon Vi, I don’t like the looks of this place.”

The beam of the flashlight hovered towards him and behind Mystery was the girl in blue, her rosy glasses caught the diverted light below her knees. “Let’s check it out, first,” Vivi said, touching his metal wrist. “You never like the looks of any place that looks deserted.” He looked away as she leaned towards him, seeking his eyes in the dark. “I’m sure the place isn’t as gloomy as it looks,” she says. “I think there are lights on inside.”

“It might just be the flashlight,” Arthur said. He reached down and took the torch from Mystery’s mouth. Arthur turned the light towards the front lawn and ran the dim beam over the front posts of the door and the shingles that made up the walls. “And some of the windows are boarded up.” He felt a cotton bag pressed into his chest, and wrapped his arms around the sack. “Is this the holy water?”

“And charms, and dispel,” Vivi responds, as she moves to the back of the van again. “We’ll take a quick peek inside and if it’s as dilapidated as you reason, we can just come right back out. No more than five minutes.” Arthur can hear her rummage around, most likely searching for the sleeping bags. “Can you bring the light over?”

“Three,” Arthur says. He shines the light over her shoulder as she gathers her overnight bag and jams a folded blanket through the arm loops. “But any sound, and sort of scuffling that sounds like a rodent and we are gone.”

“Four and a half,” Vivi counters. She grabs his bag and slides it towards him. “But I’d feel a lot better if you were there with me. It’d be lonely if Mystery and I were in there alone.” Vivi reaches down to stroke Myster’s head as he leans up towards her.

Arthur groans, “Why do you have to be so assertive?” He frowns as Vivi kneels before him and pinches his cheek.

“Because one of us has to be,” she says, a smile beaming off her lips. Vivi struggles to life his bag and her own, but Arthur takes her heavier bag and steps back. As Vivi steps off the back bumper, Arthur turns the soft yellow haze of the flashlight to the cracked tarmac. “Don’t—” Vivi begins, before she’s cut off by Arthur’s voice.

“It’s cool. I’m not going to break myself,” Arthur snaps. “The only thing breaking around these parts is my masculinity. Really Vi, if I need help I’ll ask.” He slings her bag of her shoulder, and holds the flashlight and the sack of paranormal supplies in his metal arm. He turns and adjusts the light on the road broken by age and stringy weeds.

“Sometimes you forget to ask,” Vivi says at his back. “That’s what worries me.”

Arthur turns back but neglects to frame her with the flashlight. Mystery mulls around Athur’s feet, as he studies Vivi’s outline under the golden cast of the moon. Vivi stares through the dark at him and Arthur detects that uncanny sense of being seen through. After a moment he says nothing, instead he turns away towards the looming edifice before them.

When the doors slam shut Arthur calls back, “Can you see well enough?” Vivi’s beside his shoulder and hums a confirming sound. Side by side they move forward, bundles of cloth shifting and whispering as they struggle not to drop something onto the dusty cobblestone steps. In the vapor of the light Mystery’s outline glimmers as he trots ahead leading the two, head forward and ears high. Arthur takes his eyes off the dog and stares up as the mansion seems to rise and swell at their approach, as though taking a defensive stance to their intrusion. 

The home felt much closer than it actually was and the path seemed to lead up and up with each step, the sensation boggled Arthur’s mind. A familiar chill began to work at the base of his spine and he shuddered, despite how hot his blood had become from exerting himself with pushing the van. The twisting unease built in his gut the closer they moved to the porch, and in the dark glass above the carved wood of the front door Arthur was certain he saw a glimmer of red.

“You okay?” Arthur asked. His voice was soft and nearly cracked, but Vivi didn’t catch the distress.

“Yeah. It’s a beautiful old home,” she said.

Arthur could’ve cried. Beautiful, she had called it. Many dangerous places could be beautiful and deadly all in the same structure. Was it the intent of animals that contained fatal poisons to mesmerize the gullible as they scurried away? Or was it to intentionally attract the weak minded, and eliminate those disastrous genes from the infinite line of descendants to follow? He didn’t want it to be true, it couldn’t be.

He felt a mild vibration on his arm and swung the flashlight beam enough to see Vivi, her hand wrapped around the wrist band of his metal arm. “I’ll get the door,” she whispered.

“Yes,” Arthur said back, unsure if he had said anything at all. He raised the light to the tarnished metal of the door handle as Vivi moved forward. Arthur glanced around as the latch clanked under Vivi’s grip. The shadow of the house felt icy, but it was fall and shrouded areas seemed to shelter frigid pools from the sun. He jerked his head, certain Mystery had moved behind him but there was no shape or shadow there.

“Arthur?” Vivi sounded confused.

“Sorry.” Arthur raised the light back to the handle, and where Vivi with Mystery stood coated in dark shades and hazy fuchsia.

Vivi shielded her eyes from the sudden light. She had set his bag beside the door as the pressed her shoulder to the old oak. “No. I—” She stopped and sighed. “Never mind. Just my imagination.” As Arthur choked out a sound, she gave a hard shove to the rough wood with her shoulder and the doors snapped open, as if cracked apart after centuries of desertion. “Got it! Can you bring the light in over here?”

With little coaxing Arthur shuffles forward, his metal arm latched over his chest and the provision bag, fingernails digging into his palm around the handle of Vivi’s bag.

The interior of the house was icy and Arthur almost expected to see his breath as he stepped into the oppressive gloom. The bulb of light from the torch fell onto velvety rich, red carpet. It rasped under Vivi’s feet as she stepped through the threshold into the black entrance hall. “Wait for me,” Arthur called, hurrying after her and Mystery. The sense of foreboding had faded completely, but it didn’t feel right. In its place was left a vacant and isolated sensation, and Arthur instantly mourned the loss of accusation the front windows had piled on his subconscious.

“It’s not so bad in here,” Vivi said. She stood center of the carpet, Mystery had stopped to sit close beside her feet. “I thought it’d be dusty and dank, but no. It’s almost, homey.”

The atmosphere was deafening and contained, evolving into a sense of suspension where time became meaningless. Arthur passed the torch beam over the blue wall paper and the tiled floor beneath the carpet. It was just a long hall. He adjusted the light, trying to identify what hazards might lay in their path. The beam of light instead caught Mystery’s gaze as the white face turned to meet his eyes, the look caused Arthur to freeze. It was peculiar and unnatural, an expression that a dog’s face should not be able to fabricate and the suggestion of it startled Arthur at first before he recognized the actual shape of Mystery where he sat. He had only a few seconds to register it was the dog with the red collar, before the soft vapor of light of the torch sputtered and dimmed. Vivi’s voice broke through the crushing silence, before a loud swoosh filled the foyer followed by the ear splinting boom of the doors. The tremor of vibrations faded from their minds as the moonlight from outside and the torch of the flashlight, were cut off completely. A ringing persisted, and Arthur recognized the sound of blood pulsing through his eardrums in the complete absence of sound and dimension.

No one made a sound, no one moved. No matter how Arthur strained his eyes could not perceive the wall of black that filled his eyes. After years of waiting, Arthur believes he has been left behind. He takes a breath of the sharp air and is about to cry out, when he catches hold of Vivi’s voice very near his side.

“Arthur,” she whispers. “Arthur. Do you see that?” She points, but he can’t see anything. Her voice is comfort enough, and he feels reassured. Arthur is about to reach out for Vivi, when his eyes too lock on what she must have found.

At first it looked like the glimmer of her glasses, but it was high up towards the ceiling of the room somewhere in the dark. The thick haze around it illuminates as the wavering flame dips and sways in nothingness with no visible tether. Their eyes follow the slow motion of the fuchsia orb as it glides downward to greet its guests.


	2. Chapter 2

##### 

Welcome Guests

The bright flame shimmered and pulsed as it descended to eye level of the bipedal members of the group. It seemed wholly contained and self-animate, completely isolated of the dark expanse of the air that manifested its presence.

As Vivi watched mesmerized by the gentle motions, she almost expected a candlestick to melt into existence beneath the raw pink flicker. She was ecstatic when this event failed to transpire and instead the flames moved forward following the soothing pulsing of the fire. The frail movement reminded her of something more than a candle flame, its pulse and flash reminiscent of an ancient motion, a quivering solitary dance as though the light followed a tempo of its own whim. A silent beat, throbbing and pulsing with no hitch or pause. It struck her immediately what the rhythm was that eluded her mind, the idea of it impossible but if this was a free manifesting apparition of sorts, it made perfect since. The realization struck a chord in her, the sensation both terrifying and exhilarating in the same swing and it only fortified her conclusion.

The tempo the flame followed matched the same steady pump of her heartbeat.

“Art,” Vivi called, softly. “Art. There’s a camera in the bag you have, right?” She never took her eyes off the fuchsia flame, even as it dimmed upon contact with a candle wick it alit upon. Vivi felt her pulse go cold at the prospect of the spirit diminishing before they had a chance to take pictures, or worse if she was the only one witnessing the scene. Ever since she indicated the flame, Arthur had made no sound to confirm he saw what she saw.

Candlesticks fitted into candle fixtures along the wall began to flare to life, one after and on the wall opposite to where the flame had settled. Vivi took a sharp breath; the coloration was beautiful with a texture that reminded her of light refracted through water. A smooth magenta wave rushing along the dark blue wall paper and fuchsia rug that they stood upon.

There was a sound behind her as a zipper rattled and Arthur’s low grumbles. “Hold on,” Arthur answered. “Which pocket was it in? Oh, never mind. Found it.” The camera in question was the one they used earlier that day to take pictures of their clients home, but the images had since been moved to the laptop. “Vivi, don’t get ahead of yourself.” Arthur dropped the open bag and hastened to catch up, as Mystery too began to follow the slow precession of animate light.

Arthur admitted to himself he felt better now that he could see, but this activity was strong and it made him nervous. Foremost, he wanted to make certain the group didn’t get separated. As Arthur followed Vivi along the brightening hall, he fumbled with the camera until he had the movie recorder running and turned the lens on the walls pulsating with a unanimous tempo. He felt some relief when the parallel walls came to an end and no more candles flared to life, though it meant beyond was a dark blue wall within the sweeping curves that dimmed beyond the steady glow of the candles.

Every other step Arthur took, he noted that Mystery would turn to look back at him but otherwise he kept close to Vivi. Arthur wanted to say comforting words to his companion but Mystery was good in these situations, and Arthur found himself comforted by the dogs cool nature.

“Are you getting this?” Vivi asked. She stood just within the open interior of the mansions main room. 

Arthur followed her gaze to a chandelier suspended above a high staircase, its metal frame inspired by the card set of spades. Or, another theme based on a heart? The growing dread was chewing through his guts and caused his left shoulder to ache.

“I’m getting it,” Arthur said. He tried to raise the camera but his arms were heavy, he couldn’t tear his focus from the globs of light snapping into existence along the chandeliers base and top. Arthur did manage to shield his eyes before the cold blue frame burst with light and the entire room, banister, balcony, and upper floor was scorched by a coat of luminous magenta. “Geeze,” he hissed. Arthur turned his eyes down in time to catch Mystery pacing in front of Vivi, then moving to stand between her and him.

The entire floor from what Vivi could make out was rundown and in disrepair, but not devastated. The wallpaper was peeling from the walls bare backside but the carpet was still intact. There was no suggestion of vermin or living creatures, aside from a few moths upset by the furious blaze of light. Everything had a purplish tint, and through her glasses the coloration was splendid. Some of the lower walls had paintings of people with no relation to the home aside from evident aristocrat status. Vivi was amazed to view the suits of armor placed at the twin halls that branched off from the main room, set on either side of the staircase. Everything about this place was amazing, it was difficult to believe the home was still intact though it didn’t seem like it had been abandoned for long, if it was a condemned home. The road was off the map and in some disrepair, but there was nothing to stop urban explorers from invading.

Which left one extraordinary conclusion she was delighted to come upon. The home was recently invaded by a spook, leaving the original tenants to abandon their luxurious home. Vivi was disappointed that she had heard nothing about it over the usual paranormal channels. But maybe the owners didn’t want curious investigators to come traipsing in during their absence. That was in all likely hood, many still refused to accept spirits as a scientific study, and others didn’t want that particular detail in the papers of a deed.

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Vivi whispered.

Arthur nodded. The camera was now raised and he was getting tolerable images of the curious gleaming chandelier and the floor along with a metal door or wall decoration, he couldn’t tell from his position what. “That we’re not welcomed here,” he hissed.

“No,” Vivi shot back. “If we were not welcomed, we wouldn’t have been allowed in.” There was movement to the left side, beneath the staircase. “Over there, I saw a shadow.” Vivi waved a hand over her shoulder, gesturing Arthur to follow. Without a command Mystery led the way, still casting a glance back to Arthur every few steps.

Arthur swallowed the knot in his throat as he picked up the pace. “More like trapped in here, if you ask me,” he said. Despite his misgivings he followed Vivi, conastnly casting glances over his shoulder dreading that Mystery was not looking to him but may be seeing something else completely. Dogs were not always reliable in the paranormal much like people but Mystery was an exception he was glad to have with them. “There’s a reason this house is abandoned.”

“Way ahead of you,” Vivi said, as they neared the hall. There was a side room set beneath the upper floor that encircled the main rooms interior, and vibrant fuchsia was dotting the candles set along book shelves and upon a long table stretched along the wall. “I’m sure a place this big has a back door.” She stopped before the long hall struggling to see through the dark haze as the light spread across the walls.

Arthur glanced back over his shoulder, mirroring Mystery’s compulsion. “Would you— Geeze, CREPES!” Mystery gave a sharp yelp and took off, Arthur cursed as grabbed Vivi’s blue sleeve and jerked her with them. “RUN!”

Vivi didn’t ask questions if Mystery was running. She charged right onto Arthur’s heels nearly running him over as she turned her head, in time to catch a glimpse of a line of four spirits. FOUR magenta shrouds that vaguely had a shape, with tawny bulbs for eyes and pointed teeth aimed at them as they took off. “Nondescript specters,” she said. Vivi whipped her attention back to Arthur and Mystery ahead of her. Arthur kept glancing back and nearly stumbling as he made eye contact with her, in his hand was the forgotten camera clutched tightly in his flesh fingers.

Theoretically, nondescript specters could be harmless; their definition labeled them a common spook that had lost touch with humanity and shrugged off any individual shape aside from arms and eyes, maybe a face. Nondescript specters could resume a human shape if they were triggered in some way but not often, and were most commonly viewed as shadow people through images.

They were attributed to poltergeist activities and sometimes hostile, able to leave scratches or burn marks on the living. And there were four of them, enough to frighten Mystery off with an aggressive approach.

“How long is this hall?” Arthur yelped, nearly out of breath. They passed by a suit of armor twice and candelabras set up every few feet, he was beginning to expect more supernatural mischief at work. “Vivi! Vi! You still with us?” he gasped, turning back again and nearly stumbling into the wall.

“They’re not following!” Vivi hollered back. “I think we just startled them! Did you get it on camera?”

Arthur managed a dry laugh. “Oh god, Vi! You’re amazing, have I said that lately?” He looked back over his shoulder, completely missing the suit of armor to his left that jerked to life.

Vivi screamed. “Arthur! Look out! Duck!”

The instant Arthur swung around, Mystery launched up with incredible speed and kicked at the small of Arthur’s back with his paws. Arthur pitched forward onto the fuchsia rug, and Vivi, fearful at the last second she couldn’t dive down in time, catapulted her body upward as high as she could with her momentum and shot over the silver blade that sliced through the air.

Vivi chocked when she came down hard on her stomach, the carpet burned through her blue sweater as she skid to a halt. Arthur lost momentum first, and Vivi couldn’t stop herself from tumbling over his legs.

The first to rise was Arthur, dragging himself out from under Vivi and turning to her. “You okay?” Arthur asked, shaking her shoulder. “Mystery!”

It took a moment for the harsh pain to subside in her stomach but the moment Vivi raised her head, she saw what had panicked Arthur to shriek out. “Mystery! No-NO! Mystery!” She moved to the other side of the white body, confusion overtaking her face when there was no crimson pouring from the quivering shoulders. She shared a short breath and uneasy gasp with Arthur, when Mystery raised his head to look at either of his companions. Mystery wagged his tail and whined.

“You scared the crap out of me!” Arthur snapped. He tried to hide the fact he was at the verge of tears by leaning away to retrieve the dogs amber spectacles from the hard wood floor. “But I’m glad you’re okay, bud.”

Mystery made a soft groan and leaned forward licking Arthur’s face. The affection ceased when Mystery sat up more comfortably and looked beyond Arthur’s shoulder to the wall.

Vivi winced away from the wall behind her, where a line of oil paintings hung depicting an old heritage left behind but not forgotten; men and woman and families portrayed in dab color of a Victorian era, white trimmed sleeves and collars and fine dress ware to project their stature in their prime. The portraits seemed to glare down on the small group with hostile eyes, white faces gazing through softly glowing eyes wavering in the group’s haggard breath like candles. “Arthur. Hand me the camera,” Vivi said, reaching to his hand but not breaking her gaze from the pictures.

“You are impossible,” he hissed, but Arthur handed her the camera nonetheless. Arthur began to stand as Vivi brought the camera to her face, still knelt where she was she flashed a picture out of movie mode for a splint second. The next instant, when the flash cleared, Arthur found himself being dragged by his orange vest.

“RUN! RUN!” Vivi chanted. Arthur didn’t question it, though he was curious to what she might’ve seen in the short blaze of white light amidst the photography moment. Still, no questions. He ran as if the paintings themselves had dropped off the wall and were now crawling after them by their arms. “I see some doors ahead,” Vivi said, through pants. “One’s got to lead to a courtyard!”

“Okay, okay,” Arthur panted, as he stumbled to a stop at the first door. “Wait, let me have a go.” Arthur glanced around as Vivi stepped to give him clear room of the old oak door. The paintings were gone, as were the suits of armor. He chest still heaved as he tried to get his pulse stabilized. “Back Mystery,” he says. “I’ll go first.” He turned the handle with his good arm and pulled the door back slowly. The room inside was dark and a clammy draft swept out over his face. “Wish we didn’t leave the flashlight behind.”

Vivi checked the two ends of the hall as well, expecting at any moment a suit of armor with piercing magenta eyes to march towards them from the gloom. “It probably wouldn’t do us any good,” she said.

“I know,” Arthur admitted. “Comfort is all.” He held the door open and Vivi and Mystery filed in. He shivered at the cold and the downright sharpness in the dark room. The window high on the wall allowed enough of the quarter moon to blaze through the cracked and boarded up window, the room itself had an armchair and a cold fire place along with counters lining the chipped walls. Mystery moved to lie down on the round carpet set in the center of the room. “Once I catch my breath I’ll try and get the window open. If I have to, I’ll shatter it.” He wrapped his good arm around the prosthetic and glared up at his gray reflection in the glass.

“Right,” Vivi said. “But we might need to beat it if you do try. Those spirits will be connected to this place, and they’ll find us fast if they detect you doing any harm.”

“Me?” Arthur chocked. “It’s not like I want to wreck their house. I just want all of us out of here.” He took the arm chair by the back and wrestled the cold chunk of furniture over to the windows base. “Fuck,” he snorted, pressing his shoulder at the lower back. “Don’t make crap like this anymore.” When he managed to place the chair a tolerable distance from the window, he climbed up onto the back and perched there staring through the glass.

Vivi turned toward one of the counters to the opposite side of the room, the polished surface gleamed pink under her glassed. “I’m glad they’re here,” she said, mostly to herself. Arthur turned his attention from the window and to her. “They’re protecting it, I think. Keeping vandals out.”

“Yeah?” Arthur hissed. He looked back through the window. He couldn’t come to grips that they were somehow upstairs? Unless the backyard was dug out to fill a garden full of brambles and cobblestone. “Don’t suppose you considered maybe they forced the living owners out?” he said.

“I did,” Vivi responded, peering up at him through her tinged glasses. Mystery turned his eyes from her to Arthur and back without lifting his head. “But, it is kind of said, you know?” Vivi said. “Where else would they go? They’re trapped here. At least,” she sighed. “At least they have each other.” She looked down to some shadow on the floor cast by the jagged knots of the trees reaching toward the dark sky outside.

Arthur said nothing and barely made a sound. He lowered to his haunches on the chairs backside, his good shoulder resting to the ratty paper peeling from the wall. After a short time of resting, he made a harsh coughing but said nothing. Each member lost to their own thoughts, struggling to find an answer, their way out.

At length, Arthur heaved another heavy sigh. “Why didn’t I pick up a dispel?” he grumbled. “Stupid.” Vivi said nothing over that subject and eventually propped herself beside the wall, opposite to where Arthur was perched lost in his thoughts. “Are you still filming?” Arthur asked. Vivi shook her head but said nothing, just let her face sink down in her dark blue scarf. “Can I see the picture you took?” Again she shook her head, and stuffed the camera into her sweater. Arthur shifted his footing and rested on his knees.

After a span of time that was probably much shorter than it seemed, Vivi stood up. “Are you read?” she asked. Vivi set her hand on the icy handle and looked back, as Arthur untangled himself and staggered off the chairs cushion. “No way to get out from here, huh?”

Brief confusion flashed in Arthur’s eyes, until it registered and he frowned and looked aside. “Unless you got long flowing hair tucked under your head band, or you want to hunt around for a mile of bed sheets that won’t tear,” Arthur muttered. “Maybe we can find steps that lead to a door? Or something. The architecture of these old-old houses is usually really weird like that. Custom and one of a kind.” He smoothed his amber hair back. “At any rate, we’d draw too much attention.”

Vivi nodded. “Come on Mystery,” she called. “We’re not going anywhere without you.”

At her call, Mystery sprang up and trotted over to the two. Arthur took a moment to reach down and pet the dogs shoulder as Vivi opened the door and stepped out.

The same magenta tinge coated the walls, stopping short the ceiling where the hue was a darker shade. No hostility was camped on the other side of the door, no suit of armor or pulsating flames to welcome their emergence. Arthur moved up closer beside Vivi as the left the dark room, Vivi scouted one end of the hall while Arthur turned his focus to the other direction. Vivi gripped his shoulder certain she was hearing a sound, a low thudding and creak, but she dismissed it as her own taxed heart.

“Looks clear form this side,” Vivi whispered.

“This way too,” Arthur said. He moved his foot aside as Mystery slid out between the doorframe and his leg. “Which way did we come from?”

Vivi slanted her eyebrows as she turned to check the direction Arthur had his attention. “Uh….” She pulled the door shut behind them and turned into what she was certain would be the correct way. “It doesn’t really matter, does it?” Vivi said.

Arthur followed her lead, certain that either direction of the hall would lead to the front or back of the house. “We might not be able to trust our eyes,” Arthur mentioned. He scanned the walls, and found more paintings hung on the fuchsia plaster. “Or Mystery’s keen senses.”

This was obvious enough to Vivi by now, if paintings were capable of… that, and emotions. They were being tricked, maybe led into circles. “They can’t be aggressive,” Vivi says, still looking to the disapproving glares of the portraits at their shoulders. “They have no reason to be.”

“They might not have a lot of tolerance for ghost hunters,” Arthur interjected. “They might’ve lost patience with our type when the original owners tried to exorcise their presence. They have every right to conclude that, if they have any inkling of what’s in that bag I dropped in the entrance hall.”

Vivi was about to cue in on Arthur’s train of thought, but made a soft sound instead when it clicked in her head. It was a sound theory and she had no proof otherwise. The aggression earlier was intimidating enough to ensure once they left they would never come back and would guarantee there would be no follow ups. If the spirits calculated that far ahead.

“What’s keeping them here?” Vivi asked. Arthur jarred when her voice punched through the veil of silence he had coiled about his mind. “They can’t be afraid of moving on.”

The amber sleeves twitched as he shrugged. “They probably just forget,” he said. “That, or they don’t care anymore. They’re nondescript spirits. Remember what they taught us? It’s hardest for them to move on. Maybe,” Arthur paused as something came to his mind, but he dismissed it as they moved out from the tight hall and the dim candlelight. “Maybe they stayed behind because they didn’t know they were supposed to move on.”

Moonlight pours through the large slanted window that line the backside of the mansion, the group moves beside a wall dark and cold with frigid night air. The floor is tiled and the windows overlook a small garden below coated in weeds and sharp tangles of brambles. Arthur mentions it’s a sun porch, due to the few chairs that had been left out by the previous occupants. 

Mystery trots on ahead and Vivi follows. “Then their should be steps leading down to the yard?” she asked.

“I don’t see any,” Arthur answered. He edged near the windows constantly looking down, hoping for a glimpse of a pathway or clear spot that would indicate the location of a door. What he does not expect to see is a dark shape cutting into the brambles and melting into the hazardous shadows. Cold waves soak into Arthur’s back and he pushes Vivi along toward a door a few ways to their path, leading away from the yard. “Something’s out there,” he snaps.

“Arthur, you’re shaking!” Vivi doesn’t fight him. She catches sight of the door and tears it open. “What is it?” she pleads. “What did you see?”

“I don’t know. Don’t look back. Mystery, hurry,” he calls over his shoulder, trying not to glimpse out the windows and to the canopy of trees. “Go Mystery. Go.”

Mystery yaps as he sprints through the door Vivi opens. The dog comes to a halt on dark carpet beneath magenta candles burning high above on the wall. Mystery stops in his tracks and looks between the two doors, one set into the side of a wall and one hidden in a dark blanket cast by the stairs twisting around the rooms interior and upward, to the second floor.

Arthur snagged the handle of the dark door, until a set of tangy eye sockets stretched out of the wood. “Whoa!” Arthur spat. He snapped his hand back as if the doorknob was on fire. “Shit!” He pivoted in place when Vivi smashed her back into his. Vivi had gone for the other door, but one of the spirits had melted from the wood and was glaring at her from the ripped carpet with an agitated expression. Beneath the insubstantial chin fluttered a yellow shape flashing at a slower rate, compared to the rapid throbs of the terrified intruders.

Vivi grabbed Arthur’s vest and dragged him to the stairs. “We’ll find a way around,” she snapped. Arthut tripped over his feet but managed to get back upright and hurry up the steps. Mystery was right beside him and Vivi was not far behind. Vivi crashed into his backside when he stopped in his tracks right on the first five steps. “What are—” Her voice cut off as she heard the unmistakable groan of timber snapping. Under her feet the steps began sinking, the wood crumbled. Vivi turned her face up to Arthur, the light of the candles flashed over her glasses as their eyes met. 

Mystery bit down on Arthur’s leg and snarled, urging him to move with what little force he would afford himself. But Mystery’s two legged companions had not the stability nor the strength to get up the remaining five steps.

The candles flashed out as Arthur swept out his good arm and took Vivi’s wrist. “I’m sor—” A deafening crunch echoed throughout the hall as the steps shattered beneath them. Arthur felt his backside scrap jagged wood as he hit the side of the floor upon descent but he didn’t let go of Vivi’s hand, and she gripped his hand tightly as the glimmering yellow eyes peered down growing smaller and smaller as they feel deeper and deeper.

“It’ll be all right!” Vivi called. “I promise!” There was a light somewhere below, somewhere around them. She looked to Arthur, his eyes full of tears. He shook his head.

“No. No, it won’ be,” he said, voice cracking as he forced the words. “It’ll never be all right. Never! Vivi, I’m sorry! I didn’t….” His words died in his throat as he looked down, eyes wideningat the emptiness that awaited below. “I deserve this! But not you!” The shimmer in his eyes winked out as he cringed. “Not you!”

Vivi tightened her grip on his hand struggling to bring him back, assure him. “Arthur!” She stopped there when a sudden flash sliced through the magenta gloom. The sudden brightness blinded her briefly but she saw what it was clearly, she was certain of it. She jerks her head around in time to see the pools of silver they pass in their fall, and Vivi's eyes caught enough of what she didn’t want to see.

Open sleeve, white and crisp and empty of its former occupant. Arthur didn't see, she didn't think, she prayed he didn't. The mirror nearest to her was near equally as terrifying, and though she only had a glimpse of its image Viv knew it would haunt her for many nights to follow. Hollow. As if the image was burned into the back of her skull. Vivi blinked and felt her mind dimming, the dark colors swept past her faster and faster and she felt Arthur’s hand slip from her’s.

“Arthur?” she asked. “Arth?” Vivi’s eyelids became so heavy, as if a cold hand was pressing into her fevered brow. She mumbled out in confusion and did what she promised herself she would never do again. She let go of Arthur’s hand. His screams became distant and weak, somewhere far below, but Vivi had no further drive left in her and decided it couldn’t matter anymore. The darkness bundled up her body and soaked into her mind until nothing mattered, and she surrendered to the rocking sensation that lulled her into the deepest sleep she could ever remember. Her last thoughts were anguished and pleas for Arthur, but it didn’t feel like it was Arthur she was weeping for.  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You scrolled all the way to the chapter end for bara Lewis? Sorry <3 Next chapter, promise.


	3. Chapter 3

##### 

Ghost

The fall didn’t kill, the impact and the body breaking did.

Give it time, he would come out of it. A nightmare like all the others, he would hit the bottom and wake up like all the times before. It was not real, the sensation was an illusion and everything would be all right the moment he hit. He would wake up safe and warm in bed, maybe crying a bit because dying was a terrifying concept for anyone that had so much to do in their life. So much to do and so precious little time to make conclusions.

This time he didn’t wake up when he hit. His back struck cold blades and a terrible sense of dislocation came over his chest, as if everything had been moved aside. He tries to take a breath and get his bearings, but the air is hot and bubbles in his throat. He chokes, body trembling so hard it tears his ribs apart. It’s then that he notices the green haze clogging the ceiling of the cave like some sort of plague, swirling around gnarled teeth far above his face. At the edge of a dark mass he sees a familiar figure peering down, a jewel on the shape glitters among the shadows sweeping through his thoughts.

__

It hurts to wake up, to move from the dream into the icy fingers of the air around him. Arthur jerks as he comes to, his metal arm scrapes at the gritty cobblestone floor as he slides the prosthetic under him and pushes himself up more onto his side.

“Vivi,” Arthur’s voice mumbles. He coughs against the earthy air and presses his flesh hand to his stomach and ribs and makes certain his body is still in one piece. How? He coughs again, Arthur isn’t certain if it’s the dust in the dank place or residue trauma from the nightmare, probably both. He forgets his tremors for now and turns his gaze to the darkness closing in around him. There’s light from candlelight perched at the tops of stone pillars spaced out around the room, the hesitant flames chatter and hiss calmly in the cold air. Magenta bathes the carved surface of the pillars, the stone work appears dulled from many years of waiting.

This place baffled his mind to ribbons but Arthur constantly reminded himself that the spirits wanted him to see, or envision what they felt was acceptable. It felt real but it wasn’t, he was at the mercy of his captors.

Arthur had this on his thoughts as he looked across the tops of black steel fences bordering the stone walls of the chambers interior. The candlelight didn’t extend far enough into the depths that he could accurately identify the shapes of containers, some larger than him and each cluster surrounded by the little fences. Beyond the containers rises a jagged shape from the floor toward the dark depths above, a set of steps accented by the pink glow. A way out, but there was no candlelight above to provide this answer. It seemed unlikely he could get lost unless the candle flames diminished, but they were enchanted by a spiritual flame and so he could either rely on that reassurance or not, that the light would remain eternal.

A series of shorts steps extended up to the furthest side of the chamber, with dingy fuchsia carpet laid across each step toward tattered curtains draped across a sculpted stone archway. On either side of the carpet stood a tall black basin perched upon lacy decorative metal stems, a pair on either side of the carpet and ending where the steps did beneath the rotten drapes. Though the stone chamber appeared ancient, the black bowls shimmered under the magenta candlelight pristine and new.

Arthur rose to his feet and moved carefully, until he was certain his muscles were only sore and not torn. Try as he did, he could not recall what had happened at all. He was falling, that was it. He remembered holding Vivi’s hand, then… he let go. Arthur thought he was dragging Vivi to the dark pit reserved for him and had let go. She didn’t resist. Good. He felt bitter with the conclusion but he was glad she had to be elsewhere, somewhere better than where he had… fallen? The spirits were strong, how strong he didn’t know but it was obvious that combined they were very powerful. That made sense, he supposed. Arthur hoped, he prayed, that Vivi was safe.

The legs of the basin rasped as he touched the rim. They felt heavy, cold, solid, and real. He stepped up onto the last step and took the magenta drape that concealed the archway beyond. The cloth tore as he tried carefully to move it aside, wary should more of the spirits be hidden down here. What he found behind the curtains made his blood run cold and his heart to beat harder in his chest. He listened for a moment to the muffled thudding in his ears, and made himself accept that the sound was not coming from him. It was coming from the large black box standing tall in front of him.

_Oh god_! Arthur sprang back, the curtain caught between the gears in his metal knuckles. He jerked his prosthetic until he thought he’d rip it out at the joint, the cloth tore to ribbons as he stumbled backwards down the steps. _A crypt! I’m in a CRYPT_! Now Arthur scanned his surroundings over with dubious clarity and felt the candlelight blaze brighter for his numbed mind, as if to aid him on his perilous road to comprehension. The boxes were not boxes, they were caskets, or something close. Sarcophagus’ left here to molder. Who the fuck kept coffins in their basement?! 

Illusion, Arthur told himself. It’s not real, none of it was. He had to be careful, had to find his way out and back to Vivi. 

Before Arthur could turn away, he took note that the steady rhythm was getting louder. Illusions. He told himself. None of this is real. He didn’t believe it. Arthur knew damn well it wasn’t true. He gazed at the embroidery accents on the coffins surface as the harsh design flares up then dims, into soft magenta. The hinges of the box moaned softly as they were forced, Arthur didn’t want to believe what he was seeing but he knew this was no trick of the light. Down here there were no spirits to taunt him here, it was just the coffin and him. He backed away, eyes locked on the box. He toppled backwards onto the cold floor when his heel caught on the thick carpet. He scooted himself away on his butt as the dull tempo grew louder and a dark shape fumbled along the edge of the coffins door. 

What did him in, what paralyzed him was the voice. He recognized the tone, the sort of electronic voice thread he could get on a recording, but never heard with his own ears in the moment. It was there, this voice, yet it wasn’t. Distant, hollow, empty, yet it rang in his ears and swept like fiery tendrils through his skin. Worst of all it was familiar, too familiar. No.

“Try and hear me then I’m done,” the voice warned. It didn’t echo off the walls, the sound was contained as it lifted from the box. It seeped into Arthur’s mind, invading and unwanted. “Cause I might just say this once.”

It wasn’t like the spirits from the foyer. This spook, this _skeleton_ , retained features of a past life, aside from a hollow skull perched above a vacant collar. It wore a black suit from shoulder to boot, the collar was sharp and flared out reminiscent of a bat, and a magenta tie was coiled about where its neck should have been.

“Seen this played out in a dream,” it said. The skull rotated and seemed to examine its gloved hand. A touch of remorse came to its voice as its expression softened. On its chest, just above the ribs protruding from its coat, was a golden heart that quivered with the thudding rhythm that plagued Arthur’s thoughts. “It doesn’t matter. Time for giving up the ghost.”

Arthur kicked his legs out as the ghost drifted down the steps effortlessly and perched at his feet. He stared up at it, his feet dragging over the cobblestone mindlessly. “Fuck!” The spirit directed an accusing finger upon him. “It’s you I hated the most.”

Terror stricken and filled with the spooks hot malice, Arthur couldn’t think to do anything more than to direct a finger to his face and try to speak, but the words stabbed his throat. _What did I do?_ Arthur’s mind screamed. _WHO are YOU!!?_ No answer could be rewarded while he was unable to utter a shred of coherent words. Arthur continued to push himself away as the ghost seemed to have lost interest in him momentarily, but not long enough. The way out, Arthur decided. There’s a door out. I fell in, I can get out.

“Arthur.” That voice. Too familiar. From a crippled sleep. A terrible nightmare he yearned to run from, bury it deep in his furthest memories. They never had that chance, and he had thought it was best. “There is no guarantee,” it went on, the suspended skull tilting until it nearly touched the collar of its suit. “This time I might just disappear. But… I am not letting you crawl away. Not after what you've done.” Vibrant flames had taken residence in the pit of its eye sockets, and bright fire swept up from the black basins.

“No,” Arthur uttered. “No-no.” Arthur’s eyes flooded with tears. He pushed himself to his feet as the specter followed his movement with those magenta flames pulsing in the pit of its eye sockets, and the gold locket upon its breast thudded harder, mirroring Arthur’s own rapid heartbeat. But its heart was a mere representation, long cold and left still in time. Why?

Flames licked the bleached skull, settling in a style nearly lost in the back of Arthur’s mind. The ghost cocked its head to Arthur’s sudden lockup. “You remember me,” the voice rattled, here and substantial, yet not. The sensation of it maddening.

Arthur took a sharp breath, tears streaming down his cheeks. The name was at his tongue, he knew the name. He never forgot, but he wanted too. He tried to but his conscience wouldn’t let go of his emotions, his heart. Was that why… ?

“Lewis.” Arthur’s voice broke. “No, Lewis. How—” Arthur stumbled over his words, inching forward to reach out and touch the ghost, but stopped himself just in time. In time for what, he wondered? The only objective his mind could supply was the preservation of his well being. _Run._

Arthur didn’t know if it was the ghost or his own mind that gave the order, but he whipped around and dove off into the darkest pit of the crypt. There was a door, he came down somehow, there was a way out. He stumbled over shreds of carpet and cracked stone, he nearly fell to his knees twice as he shot toward the frail outline of the jagged steps rising into the black haze above. Arthur paused only for a second to look up, uncertain if there was a path above or if the steps ended and he would fall as well to his death. He didn’t want to die, Arthur couldn’t do that to Vivi.

The steps were solid and Arthur made it up the first ten before he could bear it no longer and turned his eyes towards the blazing magenta flames that signified the wraith’s fury. To Arthur’s uttermost terror, the free moving ghost was gliding towards him, even at the distance between them he could make out the baleful glow in its skull. Arthur didn’t stand a literal snowballs chance in hell if it could move that fast and caught up to him as it deemed appropriate, but Arthur refused to give up so easily either.

Despite the burn in his thighs, Arthur tore up the steps three and four at a time, heaving his breath with the pulse of his heart. The steps leveled out in short time and he ran into the hard wood door that shut off the crypt from wherever it was that Arthur had fallen from. Arthur fumbled with the door but the latch wouldn’t give, it held tight despite his convincing. With no other option, Arthur clasped his hand around his metal wrist and brought his fist down. The sensation ripped through the tender connectors in his arm, but the latch gave away and the door crept open a crack. Arthur shoved his way through and flung the door shut on the fast approach of the magenta flames.

The crypt opened up into a stone basement, somewhere underground. Arthur staggered through the dark chamber towards the soft fuchsia light spilling down the stone steps across from him. He didn’t know what his legs were smashing against and he couldn’t care, he needed to get out of there and… and, Vivi!

A lone candle fixture flared against the wall where it was fixed, as Arthur tore up the steps to the floor above. The steps ended at ragged magenta carpet, before a well-lit hallway that extended left and right a few steps away. Arthur didn’t bother to pause and catch his breath, he had no idea where the ghost could appear from or if it would follow him to the upper floors. Maybe it WAS contained to the crypt beneath the mansion. Arthur didn’t kid himself, he chose his direction and zipped along the carpet halls. He could conjure up the chilling voice in his thoughts, though it tore through his broken sense of self to recall its warning.

" _I am not letting you crawl away. Not after what you've done._ " 

Thank divine intervention that Vivi hadn’t fallen with him into the crypt. Arthur didn’t have any idea how she would have taken the spook rising, Vivi might not have thought anything of it but for a morbid scientific curiosity. She was a treat at times.

But that was Lewis! Arthur’s mind screamed. He’d sooner be caught dead if he didn’t know Lewis. The four of them, they’d been so close. So close. Tears worked at his eyes, clouding Arthur’s sight as he turned the corner in the hall. Where the hell was she?

Just out around the corner Arthur glanced back over his shoulder to catch a last glimpse of the gloomy hall. His heart skipped a beat when he saw the appropriation tearing a fuchsia blaze in the carpet under its feet, hot on his tail and murder in the pits of its eyes. It cut the corner, clear as the magenta tinge that coated the walls, the spirit fazed through the edge of the wall in its pursuit of Arthur.

" _He’s going to kill me_ ," Arthur realized with icy clarity. “ _When he catches me, I don’t know how he plans to do it, but he will do it._ ”

The next corner Arthur swung around led him out into a long and wider hall, with portraits lining the walls with the same disapproving stares as the ones from the lower halls. The wall ended on one side of the hall, opening up to a flight of steps. The carpeted steps ascended around the banister while the floor opened up to the lower staircase. Without a thought Arthur shot to the stairs and swung over the banister, he fell hard to the carpet steps below and tumbled when his feet gave out. He refused to let himself stop there and kept rolling and falling over the hard corners hitting his knees and back, until his feet were back under him as he was dragging himself along into the next hall below his pursuer.

At any second, Arthur expected the specter to descend from the ceiling above. Any moment, Arthur remained tense and in constant panic, fidgeting and fearful of every corner and every flicker of the candle lights that lined the walls. Arthur didn’t believe he could elude the ghost for long. He was in constant reminder that the mansion worked of its own ways and it was somehow controlled by the spirits, by Lewis.

The hall took a turn and Arthur followed it, into another long hall identical to the first. Beside the corner was another suit of armor, immobile and boring, on the wall above its decorative feathers was a candle fixtures fixed to the wall. Arthur gave the metal decoration plenty of distance as he jogged by it, the sight of it caused another tight pang to grip his chest. He barely held back the sob as he rubbed his face on his shoulder.

They were in terrible danger and he had to get them, Vivi and Mystery, out of this place. But WHERE could they be? Did the powers that moved Arthur, transport Vivi someplace safe? She could have been returned to the van of all places. That felt too optimistic for Arthur. And he wasn’t going to leave this place until he made certain his friends were safe.

Arthur slowed as he turned the next corner, until another hall with a suit of armor and candle at the very end appeared as before, identical to the first hall. His blood was icy in his veins as he walked, suspicious to the activity present. Arthur was making no progress, he was running in circles. Or squares.

“Damn it,” Arthur muttered. He turned around and tried to retrace his steps. He couldn’t be trapped in an infinite loop. He came down the steps and at the end of the hall there was the corner with the suit of armor. _He’s fucking around with me._ He was stuck in a trap and his time was running out. Now that he understood the game, there was nothing left to do but wait for… _No. This isn’t right. It’s just not right_!

The suit of armor and the candle awaited just the same at the halls end, as he had imagined they would. Arthur tried to calculate in his mind how many times he turned the corner, and in his sense of direction he envisioned only the one corner repeating in his thoughts as he ran. That made his situation seem less hopeless.

Arthur staggered to a stop when a swirl of magenta vapor slid away from the suit of armor, and in the bulbous top of the shape, a set of tawny eyes peered out at him. He skipped backwards deftly as the spirit sniggered and swayed, its approach malicious. Though, not as intimidating as the dark shape that solidified at the other end of the hall. Arthur barely blinked before he whirled back around to shoot by the magenta spirit that had startled him. Upon passing Arthur felt icy air bleed into his vest and his prosthetic arm, the spirit in turn winked out heart first.

Around the corner was the staircase Arthur had come down on. He prayed this wasn’t a mistake and he wouldn’t get dumped into an infinite loop, his sanity couldn’t bear it.

The floor below was tiled in checker board style, black and white. Arthur’s feet skid on the slick surface when he lunged off the stairs kicking his legs, fighting to get his momentum back. He failed and fell to his knees, pain swelled up his side as he clawed at the floor with his hands; his metal knuckles clacked on the hard floor as he scratched for a hold. Arthur didn’t stop to realize he was panicking. There was no time to waste on concise thought or indecision, the ghost was near but he didn’t know where it would come from. It could descend on top of his head at any given moment. That was the worst thought of all.

Arthur had nearly gotten his footing back by the time the ghost had fallen through the ceiling above, the candle light on the walls either side of it flared at the close presence of their maker. Arthur chocked on the cry in his throat as he jammed his feet into the floor and shot off, he looked back over his shoulder to see the distance he had on the dark figure. It was fast. He felt his heart jerk when his thoughts supplied that the spirit could chose when to gain on him at any time.

Words bombarded Arthur’s mind. He didn’t focus on the walls or the furniture, or anything that whizzed by. He chants in his mind, hunting for a loop hole in the terrible incident that had happened. He wanted to fix it, make it all right again but there was no way to change the events set in time. What his mind supplied was pleas. “ _Not my fault. Not my fault. I didn’t want to..._ ” But he was not going to stop and try to reason with a vengeful spirit.

The hall ended to an open foyer not as large as the entrance hall, but it did offer selections of doors on the floor above and a few on the same level Arthur had entered upon. Arthur chose to spring down the short steps to another door with candelabras fixed beside the frame. He didn’t try the handle, he kept his momentum and slammed into polished wood with his metal elbow. Pain tore through his shoulder but he managed to barrel through it, as he did the door that was now knocked off its latch. It wouldn’t help to shut the door after him, he just raced through the small hall until it opened up into what he recognized as a kitchen. A kitchen, here? But maybe the mansion was just enchanted, and a kitchen needed attention.

One wall was lined with a long countertop and cabinets, broken and falling apart, decorated the wall above. The candles were lit, pulsing with the same rapid flutter as his chest. Standing before an open refrigerated was Vivi of all people, Mystery on the floor beside her feet as she examined the interior of the large silver box. Arthur was reminded of the coffin he had found in the crypt, and knew he couldn’t stop to explain what had happened.

“Vivi! Run! MOVE IT!” Arthur yelped. He snagged her sweater by the shoulder and jerked her after him. “Hurry Mystery! Hurry! Move-move-move!”

“What is it?” Vivi snapped. She tried to look back as the dark shape zipped through the archway Arthur had darted from. “Is that—”

“Bad! Bad ghost!” Arthur screamed, his voice cracking. “It’s chasing me! It’s hateful!” He let go of Vivi as she ran ahead. Vivi must have had time to rest, but he didn’t want to get left behind. “Do you know where we’re going?”

“More or less,” she said. Vivi would toss her eyes back trying to get a clear view of the ghost, but this was impossible with Arthur in the way and the corners they were forced to around.

“Arthur. Arthur!” the voice of the specter screeched. “I will get you!”

Vivi led Arthur and Mystery into a tight hall and past a few doors. “It knows your name!” she snapped. Vivi grabbed the handle of one door and snapped it back. Mystery dove in followed by Arthur. They were in a small study with desks, a bookshelf jutted across one half of the room, and a large table was in the furthest corner cluttered with books. “Keep going! There’s another door!” She shoved Arthur ahead when he had turned his panicked eyes back to her.

Mystery had already reached the door and was waiting for the two to round the bookcase. Arthur snapped the door open and followed Vivi with Mystery as they ducked out onto an upper stairwell. “Where—” he began, before Vivi snagged the front of his shirt and hauled him along. “Where are we going?”

“Nowhere! We’re just trying to get distance on it,” Vivi gasped. She let go of Arthur to hop down the stairwell a ways, then leapt over the banister to the floor below. Arthur remained on the descending steps with Mystery, too winded to follow her example. “If it doesn’t like you, we need to get you far away from it!” The base of the stairs ended at a door across from the steps, and a short hall to the side that led to another door. “Here. This way!”

“Vi,” Arthur choked. Mystery stayed by him gnawing on his pants leg, tugging him in the direction of Vivi. “I don’t know if I can keep going! I—” He stumbled forward when Vivi snatched his flesh wrist and tugged him through the hall.

“You are NOT doing this right here!” she said. Vivi shoved the door open and followed Arthur through. “You are not stopping until I say you can!” She shoved him through a small room, a bedroom with two beds, and a bathroom at the furthest wall. “I told you! You’re never giving up on me again.”

The door was open so the three rushed through. There was no sound of the ghost but Vivi wasn’t done dragging them through rooms yet. They entered into another bedroom with one bed and a fallen bookcase, the door was in the furthest wall of the room. The candles gleaming on the desk in the room was soft, which made navigating over the scattered books difficult for Arthur. Vivi led them through the door into a larger hall with wood floors that rattled underfoot. She took Arthur’s hand as she ran close to the wall, her eyes always checking over her shoulder to the walls and ceiling. Vivi began to try doors along the way, until she found one that opened up into a sizable study. A few desks had been abandoned inside and some large armchairs were shoved back into the corners, a door was in the furthest wall and another door was on the wall a few feet from. No light was present within the disconsolate room but for the moonlight that seeped through the windows along the wall. The slice of moon had crept across the sky and was nearly hidden behind the ragged trees that surrounded the estate.

Vivi shut the door behind Arthur once he stumbled through. He looked ragged, his face white and his wrist had been clammy. He stood in the center of the room gazing up at the windows and the sky outside as if in a trance. “We should be safe here,” Vivi whispered. She didn’t know if this was true, how devoted the ghost was to hounding Arthur or what it wanted from him. “Art? You gonna be okay?” Vivi reached over and lightly touched the wrist of his prosthetic. Arthur whipped away from her as if bitten. She tried to reassure him, but Arthur just shook his head and backed away.

“My fault,” Arthur mumbled. “Not my fault, I swear.” He pressed his palms to his face and hunched forward. Vivi was sure he was sobbing. “I didn’t. I’m telling you.”

Vivi stepped forward. She shared a look with Mystery, who had sat himself on the other side of the room watching his two companions. To Vivi’s gaze, Mystery tilts his head and turns back to Arthur.

“Arthur,” Vivi said, softer still. “Why did that spirit want you?”

With a low sob Arthur gathered his breath. “I didn’t. I swear,” he said. “I don’t know. I don’t know.”

“You need to be honest with me.” Vivi crept forward as Arthur dropped to the floor, he brought his knees up to his face and shuffled into the wall beside an armchair. “Tell me, what did you do?”

“Nothing,” he hissed. Arthur dropped his hands and looked Vivi in the face. “I’m telling you.” He took a small breath before he began coughing. “Nothing. I did nothing wrong. Honest. I’m being honest!”

Vivi crouched beside Arthur and placed her hand on his shoulders. She could feel the rough skin under his sleeve where the prosthetic had been attached to his tendons. “I will understand.” Vivi’s voice was solid but warm. She held his gaze for several minutes as he held her eyes, tears streaking down his cheeks. “I will help you Arthur. I will be there for you. Why? Because you are my friend.” Tears began slipping down her face, but Vivi wasn’t sure why. “I nearly… I nearly lost you once. I can’t do that again. That’s the one thing I won’t do for you. Understand?”

Mystery approached the two and leaned over to nuzzle Vivi’s face and then Arthur’s. He sat down watching Arthur. Mystery’s position in the moonlight that was cast through the windows caused the light to catch along the upper rim of his amber glasses.

“Arthur?” Vivi asked. She put her arms up when Arthur slumped in her lap and wrapped his arms tightly around her waist. He began sobbing quietly, hard quivers tightening in his chest as he fought to keep low his anguish. “It’ll be okay, Arthur.” Vivi rubbed his back and gave Mystery a look of concern. She didn’t mean to push him so hard. “It’ll be all right. You’re with friends. We’ll get you through this.”

Mystery raised a paw and set it on Arthur’s shoulder, a low whine worked up from the dog’s chest.

Arthur tightened his grip on Vivi’s waist and pressed his forehead into his prosthetic arm. “I woke up,” Arthur said, voice catching when he tried to speak. “I woke up in a crypt. He was waiting for me.” He took a deep breath and felt more tears roll from his eyes. “Waiting for me. He’ll… he’ll never let us leave. Not until he kills me.” At the admission, Arthur begins sobbing harder. He had to die. That’s what Lewis wanted. It was the only way, the only right way to make amends.

“No.” Vivi rubbed Arthur’s back. “You don’t need to die to put that spirit to rest. No one does.”

“You don’t understand,” Arthur moaned. “It’s the only thing left I can do for him.”

“You don’t owe anyone anything. Listen to me Arthur!” Vivi pulled on his vest until Arthur leaned back and met her eyes. “We brought some provisions when we came into this house just in case.” Vivi wiped his face with her scarf, but the tears still fell. “We’ve laid spirits to rest before, we can do it.” She put her arms around Arthur’s chest and hugged him. “That would be the right thing to do.”

Arthur glanced over to Mystery, who nodded once. “I don’t know if I can do this,” Arthur said. “I’m compromised, I—” He stopped when Vivi pushed him away and struck him across the face. Arthur stared at her. Vivi’s eyes glistened with tears and she held an expression of anger and determination.

“Just stop,” Vivi snapped. “Stop it. You will help Mystery and me or so help me, I’ll kill you myself!” Vivi glared at Arthur, and Arthur reached his prosthetic arm to his cheek too sooth the ache with the cool metal. In the silence, the wind whistled outside over the eaves of the house and the slates of the walls.

Arthur choked on his gasp and melted out of his rigid stance. A smile broke out on his face as he sniffled and giggled. Vivi snickered with him, her own trepidation fading as she leaned forward and laid her arms around Arthur’s shoulders. They said nothing, just held onto the other and chuckled and cried a bit more.

“You’re such a dork,” Vivi said, drying her face with the sleeve of her sweater. She dabbed some of the tears away from Arthur’s face, before he began to rise.

“I’m your dork,” Arthur responded. He used the armrest of the chair beside him to haul himself to his feet, and took Vivi’s arm and helped her stand with him. “Are you ready to do this then?”

Vivi released his hand but hesitated as Arthur moved towards the door. “Are you sure you’re ready?” she asked. “We can wait here a little longer.”

Arthur shook his head and took the door handle. “I have a feeling finding our way to the front room won’t be easy,” Arthur reasoned. “Do you know—” He cut off when the door handle snapped out of his hand and hit the outside wall. Arthur took a few steps back peering through the opening and the light that blazed through the open doorway. In three steps Arthur was to Vivi, he took her shoulders and pressed her down behind the nearest armchair. “Mystery, stay with Vivi.”

“Arthur!” Vivi snared his vest before he could stand up. “What’re you doing?” she snapped.

“I’ll be fine,” Arthur assured. He took her hand and pulled it from his shirt. “I’ll keep him busy while you get our equipment. Don’t worry.” Arthur smiled at Vivi as he patted her hand. “I’m not giving up the ghost yet.” 

Vivi released his hand as he straightened up and turned away. “Be careful,” Vivi whispered. She wrapped her arms around Mystery when he climbed into her lap. Vivi buried her face in his fur. “He’ll be okay,” Vivi said, over and over. “He’s okay.”

Arthur dashed to the door across the room and took the handle. He turned back when that subtle thrumming entered the room fully, and suspended in the doorway was a shape that cast no shadow. The thought caused his resolve to waver but he refused to glance aside. He couldn’t give Vivi’s position away. If Vivi failed, maybe the ghost would be satisfied with one death, one sacrifice to appease the soul. Arthur would make sure it was him and Vivi would be not be there to witness it. Arthur shut his eyes and tightened his grip on the tarnished doorknob, its reflection warped the dark shapes of the room and its occupants. Arthur forced himself to look up and meet the embers burning in the eye sockets of the skull, the expression on the dead thing sent cold needles through his skin. The moonlight was satisfied to settle on the golden locket flashing on its chest as the specter glided through the room, past Vivi and Mystery without the slightest glimpse their way.

A small whimper bubbled from Arthur’s throat. They were safe! They had a chance. Arthur gathered his breath and practically tore the handle out of the old wood as he jerked the door open, and froze. He stood for a moment staring into darkness that greeted him, and listened to the dull throb of his beating heart. Slowly, as if he were not moving at all, Arthur turned his head to look back at the ghost that had waited patiently for him to make his fatal error.

“Boo.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Boo


	4. Chapter 4

##### 

Fall

With time as its only company, man-made structures began a slow corrosion that escalated quicker as the days, months, and years pile on. Experts have theories, one being the lack of maintenance and repairs a prime cause of steady deterioration. With none present to keep the area tidy or to repair what breaks, places get left behind and forgotten. Other theories from a spiritual side have deduced that an area not loved or rarely visited can become depressed and thus without the living, a place can simply give up trying.

When a place, a building, is abandoned, outer forces fight to reclaim what they own. Many of the windows are smashed and old plywood has been nailed across the frames, to prevent most from breaking in. The night air is cool and quite with the slow chatter of crickets singing their last songs before fall. The interior of the rooms are dark, there is precious little moonlight out and not enough cracks in the roof or broken boards in the windows to bless rotten carpet with light. Dirt, leaves, and every manner of outside creation has fought to find its way inside the building through available openings. With none present to wage war with uncivilized nature, the courthouse fought to remember what it was while the world it was created from sought to take it back.

Through the halls rises a shrill cry. Silence tends to the dark halls confused by the commotion, as a light flutters into and out of doors lining a hall. The voice pants and wheezes as its owner catches hold of a doorknob, the handle turns in his grip and he dart into the room and shoves the door shut with his shoulder.

The light swings around as Arthur adjusts himself and presses his ear to the door. Silence has reclaimed the other side and its presence causes tremors to work up his spine. Then, when he holds his breath and focuses, he’s certain there is a rustling over the dry leaves.

Arthur steps back and kneels to the floor, he swings around his backpack and digs through the pockets in a panic until he finds a notebook that is nearly as limp as cloth. The pages flutter as he hastily thumbs through, until he finds a very basic design accompanied by a mad manner of chicken scratch. Arthur begins digging through the sack, before he snatches up a nearby chunk of tile and with that he makes sharp marks and symbols in the doors chipped paint.

In the midst of his frantic movements, the walkie-talkie on his belt sputters with a voice.

“Did you just run from the shadow?”

Arthur pays it no attention for a moment as he presses his ear back to the wood. The sounds are still out there but they should stay there. He takes the communicator from his belt and taps the send button. “It scratched me. All right?” Arthur hissed. “And it hurts! I’m bleeding.” He pressed his hand up under his shirt and brought back red stains. “You guys said this was a weak spirit!”

“It was,” Vivi answered back. “Some spirits feed off your fear. That’s why you’re not supposed to run.”

“Yeah? I wasn’t running till I was cut.” Arthur took his thumb off the transmitter and drew his knees up to his face. He waited for another answer, but there was no response. “Are we ready to exorcise this thing or what?”

“Did you get pictures?” Vivi’s voice was almost optimistic, but Arthur sighed and dropped his forehead to his knee.

“No,” Arthur said. “I don’t really much reckon I want a part of that, thank you.” He bit the antenna of the walkie-talkie as he began going through his backpack again, until he found the large sheets of gauze. Arthur paused to listen while communication was cold. Outside the door, the noises had vanished and that concerned him. He jerked when the transmitter screeched out by his ear.

“Where are you now?” Vivi asked. He could hear sounds in her background feed, of Mystery barking and her shoes on tile.

Arthur was about to say when a loud thud came to his door. With expert ease his thumb flipped the walkie-talke off and he snatched up his bag before dashing to the other side of the room. Arthur hid between gray beams of moonlight amongst the rows of pews at the rooms front. The room was outdated and small, but he felt confident he could duck out if there was no other exit. In the dark he couldn’t see where any doors, but he had to shut off his flashlight and pray the specter didn’t detect his whereabouts.

The door groaned on its dry hinges and a beam of light slipped in, followed by a dark shape. Arthur could just kick himself, in his hurry he’d dropped the gauze sheets and now the beam of light had fallen on them.

“Someone in here? How bad ya hurt?” he called, light slicing over the dark wood pews and walls.

Arthur debated on staying silent until Lewis left, but he’d be worried, and Vivi would make the connection in no time. “It’s me. I’m fine,” Arthur called, as he rose from between the pews. He winced when turned the light in his direction, but Lewis was solid about not shining torch lights directly into people’s faces. “Got me good though.” He flipped his own torch on, and adjusted his backpack when it pressed into the warm blood on his side.

“Tough mate,” Lewis said. “Did you take care of it?”

Arthur scoffed, “Of course not. I’m not hanging around after getting—”

“Not the spirit,” Lewis broke in. He toed at one of the gauze sheets lying in the dust. “Have you checked if you need stitches?”

Arthur lifted his shirt off his back as Lewis directed his flashlight to the red spot. “It’s not that bad I don’t think,” he said. “I didn’t get a good look at the ghost either, felt the burn and took off.” Arthur didn’t look at Lewis as he scrutinized the wound.

“It looks more bloody than deep,” Lewis finally deduced. “Typical spectral affliction.”

“Pretty much,” Arthur echoed. He moved around Lewis’ tall form and pulled at the door. “A basic ward script held it off.” Lewis took a quick scan of the symbols scratched into the wood, before he stepped back out into the hall, Arthur keeping close to him. Lewis leads the way examining the rooms Arthur had bypassed in his panic, but there was no movement in the shadows to indicate the presence of the shadow. After a few feet of silence, Lewis glances back when a soft click comes from Arthur and he sees his friend checking his chainless pocket watch.

“A little past 0100,” Arthur says. “That’s consistent with activity spikes that witnesses reported.” There’s a pause as Lewis pushes a broken door on its hinges and shines his light into the room beyond. “I know what you’re gonna say,” Arthur murmurs. 

“Hmm?” Lewis asked. He and Arthur jerk around to soft scratching but the beams of their lights catch nothing, not even nameless movement.

Arthur sighed and elaborated. “’If you weren’t such a chicken, hostile spirits wouldn’t pick on you.’ Or, ‘Just don’t show your fear.’”

“I don’t really think that,” Lewis admits. He checks in some of the rooms they’ve passed, the ones that were open. “Spirits might just be drawn to you.”

“And cult fanatics?” Arthur grimaces. First assignments dealing with ritualistic cults and summoners, four times unbroken they show up when he’s alone.

Lewis shined the light bream across his face and smirked. “That’s just bad judgment, thinking they can snag a scrawny runner.”

Arthur frowns. “They’re well trained with the whole snagging thing.”

“Partly true.” Lewis led them to the end of the hall and flashed his light across a large staircase before them, the clutter of desks and broken chairs had been left out by vandals. “We’ve never let them get away with you yet. Hey, you need some help getting some bandages on that?”

Arthur was about to answer, until a shape in the shadows to his side caught his attention. He swung back from the approaching figure and slashed his light across its surface to dispel it.

“Ow. Arthur!” Vivi snarled. She shield her face with a hand and glared. “I’m glad you didn’t throw your flashlight.” Mystery gave a single bark in response, as though punctuating the notion.

“What are you doing sneaking up on wounded people, in a dark hall?” Arthur screamed. “A little warning. Yes, thank you.” Arthur lowered his light when Vivi held up her walkie-talkie.

“I lost touch with you,” she said. “I was worried.” Arthur made a small sound of recognition and reached to his belt to flip the switch on. “You have to be more careful,” Vivi went on. She turned her light over on Lewis behind Arthur. “I didn’t know you guys met up.”

“I’ll try,” Arthur said, with some drop of conviction leaking into his voice. He turned and lowered his light to his path as he began moving away. “If it’s fine by you guys, I need to make an errand to the van and get a change of shirts.”

“You goin’ alone?” Lewis asked.

Arthur turned back, his torch downcast. “I’ll be fine,” he insists. Arthur hesitates when the distinct click of a lighter comes, and the brief flare of a yellow flame. The embers die instantly and he’s presented a bundle of sweet smelling sage, the coils of thick smoke visible in the pale light cast by the flashlights.

“Focus on where you’re going,” Lewis says. “And if you need anything, we’re just a click away.”

“Go with him Mystery,” Vivi says. Mystery’s paws thud on the thick carpet as he joins Arthur’s side.

Arthur takes the sage and thanks Vivi. “We won’t be gone long.” With Mystery close by,Arthur rounds the steps of the stairs case and begins his descent, his torch light dissipates when he descends from the third to second floor.

The walls and floor creaked in the still night, and even the crickets had gone silent as the hour grew late. At times the sounds were unnatural, sometimes pacing footsteps a floor above or rattling within the walls around them. Lewis had opted to accompany Vivi as they tried to trace the origins of the sounds. Vivi had a camera ready while Lewis palmed a piece of chalk.

“There could be more than one spirit lingering,” Vivi said, as she and Lewis climbed the steps to the next floor.

Lewis moved his light across the banister of the floor above trying to catch the incriminating shadows that darted beyond the railing. “We could try a conjuring, but there’s no guarantee that’ll work tonight,” he said. A conjuring could work if they knew the spirits history and had a significant possession, but even if they fulfilled all these requirements factors would work against their efforts.

“We still have one more night,” Vivi said. The upper floors were smaller and consisted of narrow halls and small individual rooms, for the employees and record keeping. She picked her way around the congestion of desks that had been moved from the rooms into the halls, from some past event. “It’s hard to get decent images if we drag the spirit out of hiding.”

Lewis turned himself sideways to slip between a stack of desks and the wall. “Getting some payment is better than nothing,” he said. A few feet from the desks he stopped to scrawl on both sides of the wall barrier runes. As Vivi continued following the motions of her torch, Lewis examined the marks he set on the wall. Lewis jerked to a sudden crack at his side and was nearly face to face with a pair of dark eyes. He took a large step backwards as a white flash filled the hall. Lewis nearly tripped over Vivi when she raced to his side, camera in hand and igniting another blaze of light. An instant later the shape was gone.

“You okay?” Vivi asked. She lowered her camera and watched as Lewis gave his vest a quick pat.

“I think so,” he said. “Just startled me.” Lewis leaned over as Vivi began to fiddle with the camera. “You were quick.”

“I was ready for it,” Vivi said. She frowned at the first image to appear on the screen. Aside from the side of Lewis’ white sleeve, the entity was undistinguishable from the shadows coiling across the ceiling and floor. “It’s fine,” she said. “The hall’s just really small. We should just focus on the lower floors.”

The second image was more promising but remained ambiguous. A nondescript specter with long arm attached to its shape and a face with dark eye sockets, its body was accented by lines and under its head was the suggestive edge of a collar.

“So that’s who got ahold of Arthur?” Lewis said. He scanned over the surrounding hall briefly before suggesting they head to the lower floors.

“He resembles that one guy,” Vivi said, as they descended the stairs. She kept looking at the image on the camera, only partially focused on the steps coated in dust and leaves. “From the Klondike case. His suit resembles one they wore during that time.”

“You’ve already decided on a theory, haven’t you?” Lewis glanced back up at Vivi, her face partially caught in the flashlight beam she used to identify the functions on her camera.

“It was the case based on Mable Klondike, she was the little sister to Rufus Klondike,” Vivi stated. They stopped at the bottom of the steps scanning the walls as the noises came, shuffling and thumps of agitation. “It was one of the earliest cases of malpractice in the town. Rufus filed charges against the doctor that had looked after his kid sister when she was given an emergency Appendectomy. I think it was on record that the doctor had been intoxicated, and resulted in Mable passing later due to severe infection – which was common back then. The doctor won the case.”

Lewis shook his head and gave a deep sigh. "What a mess that was. Poor kid."

"Life was rough back then," Vivi says. "The medical advancements we take for granted today, weren't even dreamt of back in their time." Vivi leaned around Lewis and raised her camera very slowly. It was near silent as the buzz went off and the room was washed with bright light. Lewis glanced around, before turning to Vivi as she held up the camera. She went on with, “Rufus fell to Bootlegging and alcoholism, before his death two years after the case. It wasn’t said, but I wonder if he felt drawn to this place? Trying to win a case that had been lost decades before.” With her pinky, Vivi outlined a silhouette beside the hall entrance across from them. The same shape and details, but watching them.

“Looks like we don’t need to summon him,” Lewis said. He prodded the piece of chalk in his hand, as he strained his eyes into the gloom to locate the empty hall Vivi had photographed.

__

The nights came quicker and in hindsight the group should have been off the day before, but after the fiasco with the Klondike ghost they had decided to spend one more night at the motel and finalize some of the images that had been picked up, and pick out prime segments credible to the electronic voice recordings taken during the seance to contact one Klondike, Rufus. The greatest irony was compiling the authentic information to a degree that it wouldn’t be labeled as hoax material; there was a fine art to revealing a ghost enough that skeptics could say, “That might be ghost,” rather than, “It’s so dark. What am I looking at?”

During the seance, it wasn’t missed by Lewis that Arthur seemed more uneasy than usual. This wouldn’t be a new matter, but the whole job seemed to have taken a heavy toll on Arthur by the time they were done. Lewis asked Arthur about it while they were loading supplies, but as per his nature Arthur was aloof toward the concerns directed his way.

“I was going to ask,” Vivi admitted, as she helped Lewis secure and pack away their bags of provisions. They each had a bag with their preferred ‘comfort objects’ when they investigated a case. “But I thought I was imagining it.” Vivi sighed as she pushed Arthur’s yellow sack aside. “You don’t think it’s me, do you?”

“Mi arandano,” Lewis chuckled. “Arthur is resilient. He’s taken care of himself through our every misadventure.” It was midday at that time, Vivi’s least favorite time to be productive; yet here she and Lewis sat in the back of the open van, while Arthur was elsewhere picking up some fast and cheap food. “And if it's any sort of problem, it's his problem.” Lewis was wrapping sage into tight bundles, and cutting twine to keep the soft leaves tied. They had a whole container of the stuff, compliments of their provider.

“I do like him. More than a friend,” Vivi said. Lewis handed her some sage to stuff into Arthur’s bag, though he hardly ever burned it. “But I like you the same way.” And after a pause, while she was fully focused on finding the perfect spot in Arthur’s bag for the sage. “Sometimes more, I think.” She bit her lip and looked up at Lewis.

Lewis nearly cut himself with his pocket knife when he directed his gaze to Vivi. “Just ‘sometimes?’” he said, while shutting the blade.

“More,” Vivi suggested. She moved away from Arthur’s bag to sit on the bumper by Lewis.

“Ah, I see,” Lewis said. “More sometimes more, then.” Lewis stopped fumbling with his pocket knife when Vivi placed her hand on his. They sat their quietly, up until Arthur hailed out that he and Mystery had returned.

The remainder of the day, up until they were forced into the close quarters of the van, each member developed their unique ballet of avoidance. Arthur had become more reticent and despite Lewis efforts to get him off for a quick chat, that didn’t pan out. That had been the day before. 

They drove none stop taking turns, one or two sleeping at a time. It wasn’t the ideal arrangement, and Arthur drove for about two hours on his turn before he had to switch with Lewis. In the passenger seat curled up in a little ball was Mystery, in the middle seat slumped Vivi with her head resting on Lewis’ shoulder as she slept. Lewis didn’t mind, but Vivi was really out and his shoulder was starting to go numb. In the short time before Arthur had awoken him, Lewis hadn’t gotten much rest. It was very tempting now to just pull the van over and shut his eyes.

Thankfully when the sun began to set Arthur had roused from his noisy sleep and poked his head over the passenger seat. Lewis didn’t miss the glance he took of Vivi knocked out, before Arthur directed his bleary gaze to Lewis.

“Yo,” the blonde yawned. “Where we now?”

“Old back road,” Lewis said. “Cut the distance without going through all the major cities. Can you grab me a coffee?”

In the back of the van the four kept a small ice chest with cold packs, and a few of their choice beverages. “You want the latte?” Arthur asked, smirking.

“No, I don’t want the latte,” Lewis hissed, trying not to raise his voice. He frowned as the van rattled down the old road, unable to do much but drive and be a pillow. His face scrunched up when he was met with silence. “Is that all that’s left?” He looked to his side when Arthur held out the chilled coffee drink in the glass container. “Are you Joshin me?”

“Nope.” Arthur took off the plastic wrapper and popped the cap for Lewis. “If I remember right, Vivi got the last mocha. You were being a classy gentleman.”

Lewis took the offered drink and sipped the mellow flavor. “I wasn’t thirsty at the time. Why do we even buy these?” He set the drink in the cup holder and cleared his throat.

“Vivi likes them,” Arthur said. “Though, not often enough.” He leaned back as the aforementioned began to sit up and stretched her arms.

“I like what?”

“Latte’s,” Arthur supplied. “We buy the ice coffees and you’re the only one that want’s the latte’s, but you never drink them. Have you noticed that?”

Vivi adjusts herself on the middle seat and straightens her headband. “No. You’ve never even tried them.”

“I don’t even like the iced coffees,” Arthur snapped. “Too sweet. Ugh.”

Lewis sighed and massaged his eyes with his hand. “Anything to keep me from nodding off,” he said. “We should just buy those 5-hour energy boosters. We can be miserable together.” He takes another swig of the chilled drink in hopes to knock more of the daze in his eyes. “The blueberry isn’t so bad.”

Vivi sets her hand on Mystery’s head after the dog uncoils himself and shakes. “The purple flavor has that artificial grape taste,” she said, smacking her lips. “I like it.” Mystery leaned towards Vivi as she rubbed his ear between her fingers.

Arthur sighs and drapes his arms over the backseat. “You guys betray me. Where’s your dignity?”

“Kind of lost it,” Lewis said. “You kind of build a resistance up over time.” He looked over when Arthur smacked his shoulder.

“Need me to take over?” Arthur asked.

Lewis shook his head and leaned more on the steering wheel. “Give me a few more minutes, and let yourself wake up a bit more. Not that I don’t trust you.”

“I’ve been up for a while,” Arthur admits. He leans on the seat more and rests his chin beside the headrest. “Lemme know when.”

“How many more miles do you think we are from the city?” Vivi asked. She took the latte container from the cup holder and passed it back to Arthur when he reached for it.

“Meh,” Lewis hummed, he cocked his head as he thought about the time. “It’s about six now, maybe we’re another six hours away?” Arthur made an annoyed sound as he passed the bottle to Lewis’ hand. “Hey, I’m not going to risk hitting a deer or some other animal that might be out.” He took a drink and gestured Mystery with the bottle. “Mystery appreciates my consideration, don’t you?”

Mystery barked. Yes, it was nice when humans considered that they were not the only creatures active after dark.

“You ready to pull over now?” Arthur asked. He was slumped over the seat hoping Lewis would volunteer for a little longer, but the van began to decelerate and rolled to a clear spot on the side of the road.

As Lewis slipped out of the van, Vivi leaned forward and collected her carry pack and a flashlight. “I’ll be right back. Don’t worry, I won’t go far. “You stay here, Mystery.” She snapped the door shut and turned the beam of light onto the dusty grass swaying under the breeze. The dull thrum of the van raised as her shoes crunching over the gravel became distant.

Mystery hopped between the middle and passenger seat a few times, before the dog planted his paws up on the window to watch as the dark figure followed the light fading into the overgrown woods. He barked and wagged his tail as he turned to look back at Arthur.

“She’ll be fine,” Arthur soothed. “I worry more about the thing that messes with her.” Arthur crawled over the driver’s seat and wriggled down onto the cushion. He didn’t see where Lewis went, until the passenger door opened and the purple vested figure climbed in. Mystery spun in the middle seat before he jumped up and over the back of the seat, his softs paws made a low thud when his weight came down in the vans back. “How long’ve you been driving?”

Lewis wrapped his arms over his chest and leaned back into the seat. “Nine hours? A hundred. What’s the difference?”

“How much coffee you put away?” Arthur braced his elbows to the steering wheel and set his face into his palms and rubbed away the sleep. “God, I hate these night shift road trips.” He could foresee himself driving till the crack of dawn, which he didn’t mind but it was lonely when you were the only one awake.

Lewis leaned forward to look up through the tilted windshield and to the quarter moon creeping into the sky. “I hear ya,” he says. “I was hoping we’d see some Saint Elmo’s fire, hitting the back road like this. It’s supposed to be common in these parts.”

“How common?” Arthur scoffed.

Lewis smirked. “People have actually reported seeing it? It’s the right time of year, I think.” Lewis jerked to the passenger side when Vivi snapped the door open. He grimaced when she shined the light under her chin and grinned.

“Guys! Guy’s. Come check this out!” she hissed. Vivi leaned forward and took the bottle of 99, she rubbed some of the jell on her hands as she nodded her head off toward the dark lining of the forest. “You’re gonna flip.”

“What’d you find out there?” Lewis was the first out, standing before Vivi as she started talking.

Arthur tried to get a word in as he groaned and thudded his forehead onto the steering wheel. “I have a six hour drive ahead of us,” he said. “Can we come back when we come through this area again?”

“That never works out, Art.” Vivi beckoned him with her hands as if reeling him out of the van. “You can stay here if you want, but you’ll miss out.” She tossed her bag onto the passenger seat and took a drink from the iced coffee. “Mystery! You’re coming too.”

Mystery sailed over the middle seat and bounced out of the van to join Vivi and Lewis.

“Mystery’s coming,” Lewis said, with a shrug. “Turn the motor off while we’re gone and lock the doors.”

Arthur twisted the keys out of the ignition and shut off the lights. “You didn’t say please.” Arthur locked and shut the door, before he rounded the front of the amber hood. “What is it you found?” He directed to Vivi.

“It’s not far off the road,” Vivi began, as she spun away. “Looks completely abandoned.” Mystery trotted ahead of her beside the beam of light from her torch. “Out of curiosity, I read some of the old articles online about mines in the area.” Vivi slipped effortlessly through an opening in the tree trunks, Lewis was not far from her selected path.

“A mine?” Arthur snapped. “Are you sure?” He weaved around the dry timber of the forest edge, struggling not to lose his footing when he detoured from the light source a bit. The lack of suitable moonlight made it a challenge to see anything under his white shoes, given how thick the tangled branches in the canopy were. He focused on the crackle of brush generated by their progress, as the gnarled branches snagged and cracked in his pants. The woods were silent of life and eerie in their stillness, and swarming with dark shapes tinged with emerald glitter. 

“Can… I get some light over here?” Arthur stopped in his tracks when he was aware of how alone he was. He looked around and spun in place but Vivi, Lewis, and Mystery had vanished. He was in the middle of a dark thicket with the black shapes of trees barring him in. A creeping sense came over Arthur as if he were not alone, though at this point he wanted to be. It caused his heart rate to escalate when he decided there was no logical reason why he should be feeling the creeps, but for his overworked mind.

“Vivi?” Arthur called. “Mystery? Lewis?” He jerked around when a flutter of birds crashed through the night, and winced when his rash movement upset his cut. The insignificant light around him was dimming, he could feel it. Where did the light go? “Guys? C’mon!”

“Arthur.”

Arthur spun in place, fighting to peer through the veil that coated his eyes. The woods were silent and still, he was alone. “Lewis?” He sprang back when a cold hand snatched at his wrist, he gave a shout as he ran his back into a tree.

“Arthur, it’s us,” Vivi hissed. She directed the torch light to his feet, her glasses sparkling fuchsia under the glimmer. “Are you okay? We turned around, and you weren’t there.” Lewis and Mystery were on either side of her, concern in their expressions.

Arthur glanced over them as he took control of his breathing, one hand pressed to his sore side. “I’m fine now, really,” he assured. “I got turned around. That’s all. Turned around.” He looked up at Lewis when he exhaled a sharp breath.

“Don’t do that,” Lewis said. “You scared the crap out of me.”

Arthur nodded. “Yeah. Sorry,” he sighed. “I’ll be more careful.”

It was no problem for Vivi to relocate their trail and lead the three to her find. There was actually rusted, metal bars sinking under the coils of roots and leaves in the thick woods. She commented how cool it was to find out in the woods, and then to follow them into the clearing ahead.

“Look-look.” Vivi skipped over to a rail track that was imbedded with rock, lying beside it was a partially eroded mining cart. “How often do you go for a walk in the woods, and you find this?” To her question, she directed the flashlight beam toward the yawning opening of stone, jagged icicles jutting down where the water had eroded.

“Wow,” Lewis gasped. “This looks incredibly old.” After a pause as Vivi danced the light beam over the caves mouth, he spoke again, “And you looked up some articles about mines in this area?”

“Well, I looked a few up,” Vivi admitted. “Silver, gold, coal – all were the more common ones. Mines I mean.” Vivi approached the dark entrance, the insignificant blaze of light was swallowed up in the swirling gullet. “I didn’t look up any on the map.”

Mystery had broken from the group to stand directly in the entrance of the mine, ears forward and body completely still. He didn’t move, even when Lewis knelt beside him and gave his shoulders a scratch.

“Something in there?” Lewis asked the dog. Mystery didn’t say and didn’t budge. “Do any of you feel like taking a look inside? Arthur? Remember what I said about the Saint Elmo’s?”

At first Arthur didn’t answer. He was focused elsewhere, turning left and right and looking over his shoulder. His movement wasn’t immediately obvious in the pale moon light, but that could be how the trees had stretched over the area and refused what little light the moon had to offer. After another prompt, Arthur jerked back to Lewis with a whimper.

“Yeah.” Arthur clasped his face between his palms and rubbed his hair back. “I mean no. We really should get back on the road. Right Vivi?” He winced when Vivi turned the light to him, then directed it back to herself.

Vivi slung the flashlight beam across the caves opening. “Just a few feet,” she said. “Then we’ll come back out. We might not get another chance to explore it.”

Arthur took a step and paused. Under the frail moonlight the rocky rise of the mine had chopped lines and shimmering textures, as if miniscule quartz crystals had caught the light. It almost looked green, with the deep blue backdrop of the night sky and the stars sparkling. He took a step back and shook his head.

“This… doesn’t feel right,” Arthur said at last. “Y’know when we go into those weirdly built homes, and you get that sinking feeling? Only this is ten times worse. Fifty, maybe.” He took a few breathes. “Besides, abandoned mines can be dangerous.”

Vivi turned the light as she looked to Lewis. “Well,” Lewis began, “maybe it’s best you stay out here. We’ll be fine. You want Mystery to stay with you?”

Arthur made to answer, but he heard a sound, or a whisper. The wind, he decided. Though the air was still and cool that night. “No!” He hurried forward, shaking his head. “You think I’m scared, do you?”

Lewis held up his hands. “No one said that,” he said. “I think you’re just worried about us. We’ll be fine, I promise. Just wait here.” Lewis separated from the group and hunted around under the moonlight at the edge of the woods, before he returned with a sizable stick in his fist. Lewis took a bandanna from his pocket and wrapped it tightly to the sticks end, then with his lighter Lewis’ lit the makeshift fire torch.

Arthur rolled his eyes a bit. A quirk of Lewis, though he almost always carried a flashlight for emergencies. Lewis thought the flaming torch added to the spooky ambiance if he could manage it safely.

Lewis took a few steps toward the cave, the excited flame gave off orange and yellow contrast that rolled across the gray stone of the jagged stalactites. He turned back to Vivi close by and nodded towards the ragged opening. “You want me to go first?”

Vivi frowned at him. “Oh sure,” she said. “When you fall down a chasm, I can grab you and pull you back up.”

Lewis laughed dryly at that, as they entered into the spreading black. “We’ll take it slow, and not put our feet where we can’t see.” Lewis glanced back when Arthur hurried up, Mystery matching his stride. “You sure Arthur?” The group cringed when a scuttling, rasp sound came from the deeper interior of the tunnels dark depths.

Arthur grabbed the back of Lewis’ vest when he ran into him. When the sound died down and it was obvious it was some animal or the air settling, Arthur let out a breath. “No,” he sighed. “But the suspense is agonizing.”

The tunnel’s interior was larger than anticipated, as if opening up the deeper they went into the side of the hill it was carved into. Arthur kept between Vivi and Lewis as the noises continued at random intervals – sometimes rustling or clicking, but his companions didn’t seem fazed by it. The added intensity of the flickering torch helped subside some of the creeping shadows that rolled at the edge of the groups circle, while Vivi’s light faithfully led the way.

“Mystery, don’t go too far head,” Vivi called, as the dog sprang ahead. “Stay where we can see you.” She shined the yellow beam on the little dog, while Lewis moved a little further ahead with clinging to his back.

Arthur shivered audibly. It was one of the few times he wished he wore his sleeves down. Arthur studied the musty surfaces of the rocky walls as the orange light rolled through the black, his eyes occasionally dart down on the gravel that crunched under foot of their varied weights. The black minerals almost glint with a green sheen like emerald, in some areas more vibrant than others. Arthur tried to focus on the images working in his mind, and attributed for most of the distortions to the thick shadows contrasted by the light.

This didn’t explain the chatters or scurrying whispers on the air.

“What are those sounds?” Arthur murmured. He gripped Lewis’ shirt a little tighter, certain the curtain of light that wound around them would pass over some shapeless mound of fur and teeth.

“I don’t hear anything,” Vivi confessed. “Probably just bats, or maybe a ‘coon? Mystery, is there something?”

Mystery paid her comment no mind. There seemed no sound or smell that had his undivided attention, but he had drawn back to the group and kept close to Arthur’s feet. Mystery noted that the tracks of the mining cart had twisted apart and ended some distance back. A few tools lined the sides of the path beside the rock walls, pick axes and a shattered helmet.

Stone steps were set into their path, and along the side of the tunnels interior was an old railing with a chain. Vivi ran her hand along it feeling the icy dampness. “I wonder if they had tours down here,” she pondered. “I can’t believe they would leave this place open like it is.”

“Maybe we should—” Arthur cut off as he swung around, rigid and wide eyed. “Leave,” he finished. “It’s probably closed to the public.”

“They’d have a big gate out front to keep out intruders,” Lewis says. He leans his torch to the path sinking to the left, the stone steps leading downward. “Sometimes old places like this get forgotten when they built the big interstates. Not a lot of people these days want to drive out to a big hole in the ground.”

Vivi laughed. “When you put it that way….”

Lewis cackled with her. “Yeah,” he says, in good humor. “And buy postcards of ‘the big hole in the ground.’” 

Still unsettled, Arthur cracked a nervous little grin. “Every summer you’d go off on those family vacations.”

The laughter died down and Lewis inhaled the musty air. “I miss ‘em though.” He brought the flickering torch closer to the group to highlight his smiling face, gratified he was able to share new adventure with his friends. Vivi turned her eyes from Lewis and smiled at Arthur through the light, and she could make out the fluttering outlines of Arthur’s face as he smirked back.

“There’s a path this way,” Vivi said, as she stepped carefully on the dusty rocks. “It looks like it heads up.”

“Vivi,” Lewis warned. “We should stick together.” He could make out her shoulder and hair as she moved out of the light, as she tilts herself to peer up the direction the tunnel banked.

“I’ll be all right,” she said, as Lewis turned to follow. “I’ll have Mystery with me. C’mon Mystery.” She shined the light back when Mystery padded over. “You guys go that way, we’ll go this way and just see what else is here.”

Lewis wasn’t comfortable with her going off alone, but Mystery would be there. “Let’s go Arthur,” he said, and directed the torch on their heading. “It is getting late.”

“Now it’s getting late?” Arthur scoffed. “It’s five minutes later than we could have been down the road.” He stepped after Lewis, his shoes slipping on the rocks and loose gravel.

“Careful!” Lewis hissed, grabbing his arm and steadying his movements. “If you want, Vivi can drive for a bit. I’m sure she’d be more than happy to, if you asked.” As they walked, Lewis rotated his shoulders and worked out the stiffness that had formed from being a pillow. “That reminds me,” he began, and let his voice trail off.

Arthur picked up the pace anticipating a conversations, but Lewis didn’t elaborate and they walked in silence. The chatters still came, snipping at Arthur’s ears as if insects were buzzing about. Arthur focused on the edges of the light worrying the dark masses that seemed to slither and conspire over the rock. When Arthur had endured long enough, he asked, “Reminds you?”

Lewis waited a bit longer, ensuring that their voices didn’t echo in the jagged walls of the stone. He noted that the carved rock was jagged in some places, and had a green tint that might’ve been caused by algae. “You thought I forgot our conversation we started the other day?” A long sigh came somewhere behind him.

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

Lewis is carful as he looks back over his shoulder. “Neither do I. But you want to give me an idea?” He lifts the flame higher when a shape behind Arthur melts out of sight. Arthur gives him a perplexed look, Lewis only returns his attention to their path. “If there is something on your mind, we could talk about it.” He continues after a pause, “You’ve seemed more run down, and you’re constantly getting harassed. It used to not be this bad. I’ve noticed.”

Arthur caught up to Lewis and turned his eyes to the rocky floor between them. “I swear it’s nothing. I’m just working through some things,” Arthur says, hands in his pockets. He swipes at his face, startled by a faint flutter. “Usual story, have a lot on my mind. Just give me some time and I’ll work it out.” He met Lewis’ eyes when Lewis looked his way, and Arthur made a mild gesture with his hand.

“Whatever hermano.” Lewis switched the flashlight between his hands. “Just remember, you can always talk to any of us. We’ll help you, or make a complete mess of the matter. The point being, we’ll try for you.”

“I know,” Arthur muttered. “Some things though.” He paused when the tunnel opened up and the air thinned. The light of the torch Lewis carried seemed engulfed by the black void, with only the barest hints of walls at the furthest their eyes could reach. “Woo.”

“Look at that,” Lewis said, with awe. He swept the orange glow of the torch around, when only their path became the solid surface visible. “Do you see that?”

“No?” Arthur glanced around at the sharp spikes carved from the stone stretching and curving toward them. Lewis kept moving, the light thinning around Arthur’s shoulders to admit the presence of dark shadows. “Lewis?”

“Stay there,” he said. “I think there’s a pit.” Arthur could make out the outline of his tall friend under the intensity of the flame. Lewis lowered the light as he stepped cautiously, Arthur could make no sense of his surroundings but the black box that seemed framed around his broad shoulders. “Echo!” He called with little effort. “Geeze, I wonder how big it is. You wanna come see?”

Arthur snorted, “No. Hell no, I can see enough.” He turned his attention to the other side and examined the sharp drop beyond the rocky spikes. Below twisted a haze of green, Arthur inched closer to the side mesmerized by the liquid movement. “ _What IS that?_ ” He felt it pushing through the air, twisting into the back of his mind. Arthur made a soft sound as he stepped back, pressing a hand to his brow.

“Don’t move around too much,” Lewis warned. “Well… we should probably head back and regroup.”

Lewis dropped the light when the dark shifted. A green jewel glittered high above, becoming brighter and brighter as it ascended into the black void.


	5. Chapter 5

 

Rise

Behind the door was nothing but shelves, some blankets folded neatly and some books. It was a barrier that Arthur doubted he could dig his way through if he was inclined, but he didn’t waste his time with the thought. Arthur spun away from the open closet and snatched at the door on the nearby wall and rattled the handle, the panel was jammed in the doorframe or held in place by other forces. Arthur became frantic, jerking the knob and kicking at the doorframe with one foot. He made a thunderous ruckus until the low pulse of that gold locket cut into his panic. With a small sound Arthur whipped away and pressed his back into the corner of the room. The spirit watched his feral behavior.

“Not my fault,” Arthur gasped. He crouched into the corner more as the spirit narrowed the dark pits of its eye sockets. “No. I swear, I’m telling the truth,” Arthur babbled. The sharp howl peeled through his mind, the shrill cry that woke him at night if the fall didn’t. “The cave! In the cave there was— Please, you have to believe me!”

“I do.”

Arthur blinked. Thick sobs gurgled in his chest as his heart throbbed, matching the tempo of the spirits shimmering locket. In the dim room there was little of the its shape he could identify clearly, but for the ribs protruding from its black suit, and the vibrant style of magenta hair it sported. The flames of its eyes bore into Arthur, and he was terrified to take even the shallowest of breath as it gazed down on him with icy malice.

“But you were weak,” the spirit hissed through its jaw. “You allowed what dwelled in that place to take you over. You entertained the idea of a conspiracy at work against you. Friend.”

Arthur patted the wall behind him as his mind raced, until his thoughts crashed into a long broken ache.  “Vivi.”  He feared to look, feared to confirm what he knew but refused to believe.

Both Vivi and Mystery were gone.  They had left him.

For the moment the specter distracted itself by stroking the pulsating locket pinned to its chest. “Hm.” Its head swiveled as Arthur dropped to his knees, the floorboards beneath them gave a hollow clatter when Arthur came down.

“Do it then,” Arthur said, bowing his head.  If he looked into the spirits eye sockets now, his soul would vacate his body in that instant.  “You’re right.  I was weak, I was.... I didn’t— I... utterly fucked up.  I shouldn’t of....” Arthur took a moment to get his breathing under control, and smooth out his broken voice.  No one would see.  No one would ever have to know.  He would take the truth to his grave, even if he wasn’t sure what that truth entailed.  Vivi would mourn, sure, but she would never have to know.  He had the strength to do that.  Or, was it cowardice?  

“I tried to make it up to her.  I tried to fix it, but she doesn’t need me.  I’m a—” He gagged when the spirit snared his prosthetic arm.  A piercing squeal tore from Arthur’s throat as he was swung upward by the compromised limb and flung across the room.  The prime connectors in his arm didn’t have a chance to recover from the exertion, before he smashed into the wall and dropped upon a desk.  The desk crumbled and Arthur tumbled to the floor, scrambling to find his footing.

“I don’t want your sniveling.” The spirits voice became low, harsh. “I don’t want your tears, or your apology,” it went on, tilting its head until the moonlight flashed through its eye sockets. “And I don’t want your death.”

Arthur managed to get onto his feet before he pitched over into the wall, vision swirling and unfocused on the approaching specter.

“I want you to suffer,” the spirit snarled. The locket flashed quicker as the flames in its eye sockets brightened. “I want you to feel the terror and emptiness I felt. I want you to experience the fury and isolation that scalded my soul when I was KILLED!” It advanced on Arthur, gliding its lower half through a table as the moonlight fluttered across its bleached ribs. “You won’t—” The spirit glides backwards as a dark shape cut between it and Arthur.

Arthur choked, “Don’t!” He tried to move to his feet, but faltered as pain burned through his agonized shoulder. “B-back, Vi.” Vivi stood between Arthur and the spirit, arms open wide.

“I,” Vivi began, and took a breath. Her shoulders trembled as she stared the spirit directly in its eye sockets. “Won’t let you hurt him.”

The spirit’s hostility melted from its skull completely as it slid backwards, the table it had slipped through effortlessly before skid over the hard wood floor and tipped over. It stares at Vivi’s eyes through the bright lenses of her glasses, its bleached skull contemplative and uncertain. “Vivi,” he spoke. “You— you’re not meant to be here.”

Vivi let her arms drop a few inches as she gazed at the spirit. The strangest sense of deja’vu came over her, as if the voice was someone’s she’d known so well but the name… she didn’t have a name. She blinked, but no scrap of memory entered her mind. A ghost haunting a house out in the woods. She could connect nothing to this distinct apparition. “I… know you,” she said.

The sound played back in her mind. A breeze cutting over a fast moving obstruction, then the soggy crack that echoed off the walls. A terrible sound that delivered horror and panic. The urgency to move somewhere, to take some sort of action gripped her tightly, but there was nothing to do. She couldn’t fathom what to do, how to fix it.

“No, you don’t,” the spirit whispered. “You were there, but you shouldn’t have seen that.” The spirit drifted backwards when she took a step in its direction. “I made sure….” Its voice faded off.

“What did you do?” Vivi and raised her hand up, as if to touch him. The spirit looked upon her, flames dimming in its eye sockets, but made no move to retreat further. “You need to tell me.” Her eyes moved to the shimmering heart as its movement quickened.

“I won’t do that,” the spirit hissed. “Not to you— Don’t touch that.” The specter reached out to take back the flashing heirloom as it drifted away from his chest, carried by some powerful inner suggestion the locket acted upon. But Vivi had already reached her hands out carefully and placed her fingers around the glimmering locket; his most protected and cherished possession. The only possession Lewis had not yet lost. “Vivi, please.”

Captivated by the rapid flashes of the heart-locket, Vivi only heeded the wounded tone of the spirits voice as she slowly wrapped her fingers around the golden heart. Then they were gone. Vivi and the locket were gone.

The spirit tugged its skull up to the open doorway as amber flashed into the light shining from the hall, followed by a streak of blue. Vivi’s face was grief stricken as she was dragged through the door by Arthur, she reached back to the spirit before she disappeared around the doorframe. The spirit reached out for her hand, completely missing the glimmer of the locket as it fell fast to the hardwood floor.

And cracked.

“You….” He hissed. The magenta flames of his scalp swelled down his backside as he swoops out of the study and into the hall where the three retreated. “Abandon me.” The fire ignited outward from his coat and skull, shredding through timber and wallpaper. And for a brief span of its existence, the specter thought of nothing but making everything it ever knew vanish entirely.

When Vivi saw the eruption of fire heading towards them, she shoved Arthur on ahead as they ran. “Don’t look back!”

While the spirit was distracted by its devastation it must’ve lost some of its hold on the homes enchanted architect, for the hall ended after several long strides and wasn’t the infinite tunnel that had trapped them before. Arthur tore from the halls opening and diverted to the side, where the lower lounge was beneath the upper floors balcony. There was a long table basking in the glow of the candles, and hopefully as solid as he it appeared.

“Table, Mystery. Under the table!” Arthur called. He wrapped his arms around Vivi and forced her to fall with him as he dropped to his knees and skid between the table’s legs. “Trust me! Trust me,” he chanted. Once under the table he released Vivi, and punched the underside of the heavy oak with his mechanical arm and knocked it over, moments before the fire erupted out into the main foyer and flooded every inch of the atmosphere.

Mystery watched as Arthur folded himself over Vivi, and Vivi curled up into a tight ball shielded by the lapels of his amber vest. The room ceased to exist as it was consumed by hot white light-tinged pink, and the rolling bellow of sizzling heat. As Vivi and Arthur buckled under the driving force, Mystery leapt up over the table and turned his body to face the blaze.

 

 

__

The cold wind rushed through his clothing and skin as he fell through the dark forever. A yellow flame followed, fatalistic fire of a brief life swept up in a metaphorical orb, banished by the glittering emerald. An end was inconceivable, a conclusion was insufferable. He reached up gripping at open air, futile as it was. Where was he going? And what would happen when he arrived?

Cloth tore and his body was dislocated. He lay staring upward as the green haze thickened throughout the ceiling, wrapping around gagged teeth directed down on him. When would the nightmare end?

“Lewis?” a sick voice yelped. “Lewis!” The voice cackled wildly and sobbed in the same breath, a sick and twisted resonance on the cave walls. “For god’s sake Lewis, answer me! I said ANSWER—”

The voice cut off and what followed was a symphony of panic and shrieking.

“ _Don't...  Don’t let her—_ ”

 

 

__

The tsunami of fire crashed over Mystery as he held his ground, snout directed into the path of the onslaught. The shadow cast by the dog rose over the polished table and up along the wall behind his companions, then faded as the fuchsia swell dissolved completely. Mystery’s legs quivered as he raised his head to glare up at the suspended ghost poised on the other side of the foyer. It was just the death suit and the skull watching him with no outward countenance, held in its palm was an aqua heart locket, and even from his distance Mystery could make out the spider web fractures in its surface.

Without a word the specter faded, skull first followed by its suit, leaving only a scorched room and sizzling masonry. The mansion still stood but its stability could be tested.

Mystery didn’t know if he was up to the task. He sat down and turned his head as shuffling sounds came from behind the table. The first up was Arthur, peeking over the tables side and examining the ruble that had been dislodged from the walls and ceiling. Arthur had his good arm on Vivi’s arm and helped her up.

“Look’s clear,” Arthur says.

Vivi adjusted her glasses as she looked to the front side of the table. “Mystery, did you protect us?” she asked. To her question the dog merely wags his tail. Vivi steps over the table to kneel by Mystery and smoothed out his fur. “Don’t be like Arthur and overexert yourself.”

Mystery whined at her. He didn’t try, honestly. Mystery watched the dawning recognition flash in Vivi’s eyes before she whirled to Arthur and shoved him roughly with her palms. Mystery winced.

“Why did you do that?” she yelled. Vivi watched as Arthur stumbled backwards into the wall and the window behind him.

“I didn’t know what else to do,” Arthur said. He pushed himself onto his feet and moved back further as Vivi leaned towards him. “What was I supposed to do?” Arthur recalled the room’s state and began shuffling along the wall, towards the front of the room. Without meeting Vivi’s eyes, he gestured her and Mystery to follow as he slunk beside the wall.

“You know that ghost,” Vivi said. She closed the distance between her and Arthur and took the sleeve of his shirt as she followed. It wasn’t a bad idea to start moving now, but she was angry and she wanted answers first. “And it knows me. What is going on? I need to know why it wants to kill you.”

The three moved silently across the room, to where they abandoned their bags in the front hall. Vivi released the sleeve when Arthur crouched and began to rummage through the sack. The thick cotton material was singed lightly but not roasted through, some miracle or selective maiming. “This isn’t the time for that,” Arthur said, pulling open pockets and moving bottles around in what little candlelight still fluttered in the hall.

“When will it be the time?” Vivi crossed her arms and glared at him. “Well?”

They had a wide assortment of charms, holy effects – items tested and proven to weaken or ward off spiritual activity, by whatever mysticism governed the paranormal dimension. Arthur didn’t know what to select so he settled on sliding the bag onto his back. “Vivi.” He stood and gently set his hands on her shoulders and met her eyes. “You deserve answers. Yes. I—” His voice died as he looked away choking back tears. “Trust me. Please. I want to talk to you, after this. But first, I have to make sure we are safe.” Arthur slid the backpack over his arm and pulled out a container of salt from the open top, and a bundle of sage. “It will hurt, what I have to tell you,” he said, and squeezed her shoulders. “We’ll share the pain together.”

Vivi looked from the container and herb he had given her, then to the stony expression in Arthur’s face. She nodded.

Arthur held her stare for a few more minutes, before he turned to Mystery. “Can you find,” Arthur hesitated and squeezed his eyes shut. It didn’t feel right not to use a name, but it would feel far worse if he did, he knew. “Find the spirit?”

Mystery sat on the carpet gazing up at Arthur and tilts his head, as if to inquire about his companion’s mindset.

“We’ll do it,” Arthur said, and turned to Vivi. “You’re right,” he says. “We have to lay him to rest. I think that’s why we’re here.” He cast his eyes down as Vivi took his bad shoulder. “I don’t know what else to do.”

“Don’t leave me, for a start?” Vivi asked. “I can’t lose you too.”

Arthur turned his head to see her with his eyes and nodded, faintly. He adjusted the bag on his back and led their way along the wall, rows of flickering candles lined their path. The foyer still smoldered, but the air was chilled in an unnatural way and the scent of wood fire was completely absent. Illusion, came to Arthur’s mind. He couldn’t deduce which was real, why they should see the damage wrought by spiritual outburst.

“Can you find him, Mystery?” Arthur asked. He watched as Mystery padded forward, head high as the dog began scanning the walls and upper floors bathed in the chandeliers fluttering candle light. As Mystery went on ahead, Arthur looked back to Vivi and held out his good hand. Vivi took his hand and looked to Arthur without a word. “If… nothing goes right,” he says, “take Mystery and leave. Never look back. Promise?” He went limp when Vivi wrapped her arms around his shoulders and hugged him, Vivi’s grip tightening. Arthur tried not to make a sound. He didn’t deserve this.

Mystery had reached the bottom of the large stairs and turned back to watch as his companions caught up. Wherever the spirit was Mystery couldn’t decide definitely, but he sensed simply being was enough to draw it out. Arthur was just walking bait at this point, but it would be best to find a location that gave the group an advantage if they became overwhelmed. They hadn’t explored the upstairs.

In fact when the upstairs had become their only safe route, the specter had intervened.

The carpet was charred and singed, and crackled under Mystery’s feet as he padded up the steps. Mystery exercised great caution, though he judged that the spirit would be unwilling to emerge at this time. He felt that the magenta spirits would be happy enough to follow a mild suggestion, if they trespassed into unwelcome territory. It wasn’t that the spirits were unintelligent, Mystery knew, it was due to time. In time even the most resolute could lose focus, and shed their sense of identity.

“Maybe not step under the chandelier,” Arthur said, as he guides Vivi to the side of the stairs.

Mystery didn’t pay them mind. He bounced up the remaining steps and stood on the foremost landing, head turned to watch as Vivi and Arthur joined his position. Mystery’s short tail wagged when they neared, and the dog resumed up the next set of steps to the left.

The top most floor encircled the grand foyer, high above in the ceiling large windows faced the sky dazzled with trillions of stars and misty galaxies. There were numerous doors along the upper pathway, decorations such as desks and suits of armor filled some of the empty wall space between the doors. Though there were candelabras fixed to the walls at intervals they offered no light, leaving the chandelier suspended at the center of the room as their only reliable light source. Some of the carpet and the banisters had received scorches from the frenzied inferno, but there was no greater damage.

“Where are you taking us?” Arthur asked, as he turned to Mystery. “Just a hunch, but I don’t think that ghost’ll be up here.”

Mystery turned to Arthur and tilt his head. Was Arthur really that desperate to meet his maker?

Apparently not. Arthur sighed and adjusted the backpack strap over his bad shoulder. “Maybe you’re right.”

Vivi tried the nearest door in their path but it was locked. “You said you fell into a crypt?” she asked.

Arthur tensed and turned to her. “I woke up there,” he muttered. “But I don’t know how to get there, or if there is an actual way in. I have a feeling I was brought there by some force.” Arthur looked to Vivi when she looked over her shoulder back at him. He anticipated her questions and prying, but Vivi only looked away and resumed trying the doors.

The icy chill that lingered in the halls returned to the foyer, and Arthur shivered. The fire had been unnatural, not feeling hot to his skin but scorching to his nerves and thoughts. As if the flames were not tuned to the air itself, but instead to his skin.

Vivi reached for the next door they came upon, but didn’t take the handle before a fuchsia spirit had melted from the wood and chattered at her with sharp teeth. Arthur gave a small cry and leapt back against the banister, nearly falling if Mystery hadn’t snatched the ankle of Arthur’s pants in his teeth and dragged him back.

The magenta ghost pulled its vague shape from the door and twisted over itself playfully, but its teeth remained sharp and its yellow eyes slid curiously over each member of the group. Vivi plucked up the bundle of sage and held it for the spirit to view. Before she could request a light from Arthur the spirit faded, its last cackle echoed off the walls.

Arthur crept up behind Vivi and peered over her shoulder. “Think it’s safe?” he asked. Vivi watched the door expecting something dramatic, maybe screaming, but the room was silent. Vivi sprang forward and snapped her hand to the doorknob. Arthur gave a low squeak as she flung the door open.

Behind the door a set of steps curled up into the dark upper floors, with no light but a pale blue spilling from somewhere. Mystery moved forward sniffing at the cold musty draft that flittered down. Satisfied by some conclusion or lack of interest, Mystery began padding up the wood steps and Vivi followed. Arthur lingered, casting a last scan over the large scorched walls of the lower room, before he entered after them and shut the door.

Vivi now held the sage before her like a torch. The steps creaked as their collection of weight and movement tussled the old floor boards. Another door awaited at the end of the winding steps, a crease of blue light swirled in the dust at the floor. Vivi inched toward it cautiously, fearful another spirit would lunge out.

“Where do you think we are?” Vivi asked. The sudden stab of her voice caused Arthur to jerk, the contents of his backpack clinking to his movement.

“An attic,” Arthur said. “Maybe. Mystery, what are we doing here?”

No answer came from Mystery. Instead, the dog sniffed at the door that Vivi contemplated. Vivi took the handle, and still holding the sage out like a shield, she twisted the doorknob. The door opened easily into a large, frigid room. It was not remarkable, the same tatters of paper peeled from the walls and there was very little furniture aside from scattered chairs and a table left beside the walls. Unlit candles stood upon the tables, and at the far side of the room where the ceiling peaked was a large window overlooking the front yard. The walls at the back of the room, away from the moonlight and sun, sported numerous pictures of varied sizes dotting up and down the walls and cobwebs covered the carved wood frames.

The wind skipped over the eaves and the slates, and a branch tapped outside the window. The atmosphere of the room was weary and forlorn, waiting only for days with sunlight and losing more each night that passed. Vivi lowered her hand with the sage as she wandered closer to the large window. Through the glass, on the moon washed gravel below she could pick out the details of the van waiting for them beside the road.

“He must’ve seen us arrive,” Vivi said, as Arthur joined her side. “The van breaking down was his doing.”

Arthur frowned. Yeah. And he probably enjoyed watching Arthur struggle. “I kind of don’t want to hang around here anymore,” Arthur admitted. “Charms or not.”

“What are you doing?” Vivi spun around as Arthur trotted off, headed towards Mystery on the far side of the room.

Arthur selected the sturdiest chair and struggled to lift it, but the wood was thick and heavy and his prosthetic arm felt loosened in its connectors. “I’ll smash the window and we can climb out,” he said, grunting with the effort of raising the chair. The chair clattered to the floor when Vivi hurried to his side and grabbed it from him. “Look! I’m thankful that thing harbors you no ill will, but I dunno how long that’s gonna last! This might be our only….” He noticed that Vivi was no longer looking at him, her attention had snapped to the walls behind him.

“Do you have your lighter?” Vivi held out her hand, and Arthur obliged. She took one of the tall candles sitting on the desk and lit it, the small yellow flame pulsed and dimmed in the accusing glare of the dark fog. Vivi held her hand beside the candle as the flame sputtered, until its light began seeping over the rough walls and surface of the desk. Vivi kept her attention fixed to the portraits on the wall – some large, others small and filled with crooked brambles growing in tangles around the skull effigy of the specter.

What had her captivated were the picture frames along the highest wall, descending with images of figures resembling she, Arthur, and Mystery… and someone else. A cave looming in the woods. She concluded they were always together. Inside the cave the group separates, and something had followed. One stays above, one falls low, and one to witness. A figure staring into a mirror and his reflection is the spirit. There were portraits of eyes and tails and an arm.

Vivi took a quavering breath as she reached out to touch the nearest picture and rubbed away some of the dust, revealing a heart. Mystery gave a soft whine to her as he watched.

“Vivi?” Arthur hummed. He looked again across the images detailing that day, the day that was a blur in the back of his nightmares. “Do you—” Arthur silenced himself when a low sob came from Vivi, as she slipped against the table and to the floor.

“No.” Vivi shook her head slowly. “But I can feel a sense of him. This someone who was so important that their absence is devastating. It doesn’t feel right. I should know everything about him – his voice, the color of his eyes, his name -but… there’s nothing. Just a dark cloud swirling, getting thicker when I concentrate.” She listens to the soft tapping on the window, her face buried in the thick scarf as tears warmed it. She turned to Arthur. “What happened? Tell me now.”

Arthur’s face became pained as he turned to Mystery. In response Mystery whined and glanced to Vivi. “You remember that Christmas, you gave me a pocket watch?” he asked, and produced the chainless, scratched timepiece from his pocket.

Vivi took it from his flesh hand and examined it, as though this was her first time viewing it. “I… do.” She handed the clock back to Arthur as he knelt beside her.

“There was someone else,” Arthur continued, still studying the portraits in the feeble candlelight. “And you gave him—”

“A locket!” Vivi pressed her hands into the front of her sweater. Arthur’s face fell.

“Mmm.” Arthur put an arm around Mystery when the dog leaned into his side. “I think you hit it off with him. You… and I—” Arthur shut his mouth and heaved a sigh. “I don’t know what happened. We went to this cave… there was an accident.” He reached out his metal prosthetic for Vivi to see fully and to collect on the gravity of its symbolism. Arthur swayed when she slumped against his side and began sobbing into his vest. “I’m sorry,” he murmured. “I’m so-so sorry.”

“I don’t even remember his name. How could I forget?” Vivi whispered. “How?”

“Lewis,” Arthur said. He tightened his arms around her shoulder and set his cheek on her head. “Sometimes you called him Lew-Lew. Or Bara Lew.”

“Shut up,” Vivi muttered. Arthur smirked, it wasn’t a hateful command. “We should have stayed in the van. We should have stayed….”

“Yeah?” Arthur said, gently. “But who can resist a creepy cave?” Vivi sobbed harder, her tears soaked right through his shirt. “He’d have done anything for you. Anything. You did nothing wrong.” He met Mystery’s eyes, and the dog had that same look on his face as all those nights ago. “I’m the one that resented him,” Arthur said. “I pushed him. It was me.” Arthur drew back when Vivi swung up and punched him square in the face. Arthur collapsed on his side as Mystery padded around his face barking.

“Is that why he hates you?” Vivi snarled, fists braced onto the dusty boards at her knees.

Arthur moaned as he rolled to his good side. “Yes.”

When Vivi rose to her feet, Mystery dashed from the group barking at the window on the far side of the room. Arthur recognized the tone Mystery used, it was alarm and urgency. He flopped onto his back and tilts his head back the furthest that he could managed. In his shock he missed Vivi’s approach; she knotted her fingers into his shirt front and leaned over him. “Wha—wait!” Vivi paused long enough to follow Arthur’s gaze and froze, her knuckles turn white enough to rival Arthur’s shirt.

Mystery bristled up the fur between his shoulder blades and his barks had subsided into throaty snarls. Across the room pressed into the large balcony window was a dark shape with green eyes, tapping at the glass and grinning at those on the other side.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A happy ending is only a temporary solution to the inevitability in the grand scheme of life


	6. Chapter 6

##### 

Forgotten

To her surprise, the path did not go upward as she originally thought but it went down. She followed the beam of light her flashlight cast, always returning it to her path and the stones set there. The gravel thinned several feet back and it was just the polished surface of the cavern floor, almost slick under her feet as she walked. Her shoes were not the best to be running out in the woods in, but they were stylish.

The polished walls and floor of the mine had a luminescent gleam in the light, and seemed to glow emerald and sparkled with vaporous trails wherever she sent the faithful gleam of her torch. The tunnel constricted to a point in which she thought she may have to turn back, but it eventually opened up and she could feel the thin cold air of an open cavern. As the light fluttered across the ravenous darkness that devoured her light, she thought she saw shapes move among the endless haze. A quivering wave of black that darted and ducked under the beam of her flashlight.

“I bet no one’s been here in decades,” Vivi said to Mystery. After a few steps she stopped and turned around, detecting the sudden stillness of the air. No reply, no affirmative yip. “Mystery?”

Vivi jumped when a loud gust followed by a wet crack filled the harsh silence, accompanied by the clatter of something among the rocks. Then as before, the air was placid. She turned to where the sound had come but in the pitch black it was impossible to identify what direction exactly, it had bombarded her from all sides and the echo was as indirect as ripples in a pool of water. Vivi’s shoulders shook, the dank air was replaced by warm smoke. Something was there but she couldn’t find it. An animal, or…

“H-hello?” Her voice was hoarse. In the swarming black was a sound, an anguished shrieking of grotesque laughter that clambered into her mind. Vivi diverted her light back to her path, and in the last second caught a shape, some movement of light not from her flashlight. The howling shrieks continued into the black, and she wished and wished so badly whatever was there would die.

The pitiful beam of her light broke around an arm and hand, the fingers were white and claw like and splattered with red. Void of conscious drive, Vivi’s yellow beam of light moved across the sleeves and the purple vest, the wet spikes stretched high. She took in the sight before her gradually, as light began to rise and fill the darkest corners of the cavernous room. The hellish screeching that remained a constant spectator had reached a new crescendo, as a pale glimmer of gilded light puffed into existence.

"Lew...."

The scene was snuffed out in a wisp of rouge.

__

The black mass in the window tapped and tapped at the glass gently, its luminous eyes fixed on the group frozen on the opposite end of the room.

“What… is that?” Vivi hissed. She kept Arthur pressed to the floor, her fists tangled in his shirt.

Arthur stared backwards at the thing, voice shaking. “I-I don’t know,” he said. His shoulder ached where the prosthetic was attached, the pain was worse than when…. “Some demon. Something evil. It found me.” Arthur didn’t hear Lewis caution him, didn’t hear the warning to stay put without the light to see by. All Arthur heard was, “ _A Pit._ ” 

Arthur had so much to explain to Vivi. The truth she craved now; what had happened and why she mourned the spirit – Lewis. But he couldn’t put the entire series of events into words, Arthur couldn’t relay his grief and guilt. All Arthur managed to say was, “It lures people. Takes over the weak and uses them.” He gripped his metal fist tightly to the floorboards, though it pained his shoulder to new levels.

Vivi chewed over the meaning of his words for a moment, eyes locked with the thing as it tap-tapped on the glass. The slits of its eyes glittered, vaporous and beautiful but malicious. She remembered seeing the colors in a place cold and dark, deep-deep somewhere in the back of her mind where the black haze swelled when she focused too hard. It made her shudder.

“The cave,” she said.

Arthur didn’t look to her. “Yep.” His voice nearly broke, he felt it twisting into his memories. The pain, the vulnerability, and the elation. The thoughts beseeching, suggesting without words of what his body should do. How powerless he felt to desire.

How drunk he was with hate. “ _It would be so easy._ ” He directed his shortcomings, his doubt, onto a physical obstacle. “ _A little nudge._ ” And removed it.

“I’m sorry, Vi,” he said.

Mystery raised one paw from the floorboards as he faced the window, head lowered and teeth bared as he snarled.

“It can’t get in,” Arthur said. “It shouldn’t, I think.” But as he watched he wasn’t certain of this. What was repelling the entity? And what had drawn it here? He knew these roads, he knew the area. Since the accident he had avoided the one background like the plague. No matter how many arguments he had with Vivi over distance and time, he avoided that one road.

The taping continued. Mystery’s growls became lower, more hostile as a new sound slithered through the air. A faint crinkling as glass crackled, warped, and splint. Glimmering magenta lines formed in the surface of the window where the hostile entity perched, the purple-pink lines were chased offby green flashes and arks.

“We shouldn’t be here,” Arthur concluded. He pushed Vivi off his chest gently but as he turned over to stand, a twisting pain gnawed into the remained flesh of his shoulder. With a groan he collapsed to the floor over his bag of supplies, his prosthetic went limp under him.

Vivi took his good shoulder and tugged him up. “I can’t carry you out of here by myself,” she said. “You have to stand up. Lean on me”

A loud bark tore out of Mystery’s throat as he charged at the window, but stopped. The entity bowed its head more at the sight of distress evident in Arthur, and continued to clink and nudge the window. For a moment it seemed that the glass was warping around the specters shape, curving inward of the balcony like a bubble. It would get in and it would claim what it owned.

Vivi glanced to the specter. She took up the bundle of sage left beside Arthur on the floor, and swept up to light the end of the plant wigth the candle on the table. “Hold this,” she said, and stuffed the sage into Arthur’s good hand as streams of smoke rose from the dried leaves. “Breath in some of it, it’ll help.” Arthur grumbled but followed her command, taking in careful breaths of the white smoke while he folded over beside the bag of supplies. Vivi tried once more to lift Arthur and attempt to move him, but not only was he limp he was seizing into a tight ball. “C’mon! You gotta stand!” But Arthur was unable to comply as his body locked up more and shook.

The bag Arthur had carried contained a few personal research books, filled with hand scribbled notes and pictures. Vivi slipped out a piece of black graphitegraphite and one of the ratty spiral notebooks, frantically she flipped through the pages, focused on barrier spells of common designs. Just one to—

A piercing shriek filled the room as the glass burst, and the dark shape fluttered in. Glass in a dozen million specks scattered across the floor before dissolving into the wood it scattered across. The entity hit the floor with a clatter and knelt, its bright eyes scanning over the mortal beings and Mystery, still defensive and snarling. The entity chattered, the ends of its body became thin and wispy like smoke as it raised itself up more. It was the size of a man but lacked the shape, its arms extended into sharp flat fists resembling paddles… or wings. On its knee pulsed an emerald shape resembling a heart, which twisted as its form shifted. The black mass leaned forward on the bent sides of its arms, the sharp ends swept back behind its body. The jagged glimmer of its mouth thinned as it leered on Vivi and Arthur.

“It’s,” Arthur said, with a small croak. He folded over the burning sage clutching at his head, his shoulders shook hard as his body tensed. “It’s talking to me.”

Vivi put her hands gently over his shoulders. Arthur’s skin was icy and clammy. “What’s it saying?” she whispered. She kept her eyes on the entity when it paused where it had perched, teeth gnashing and grin widening until its head was nearly encircled in the jagged green line.

Arthur whimpered into the hard wood. “I… I don’t know,” he said. His voice spiked as he began shrieking, “I don’t know! I swear! It wasn’t me! It wasn’t me!” 

Vivi wrapped an arm under Arthur’s middle and tried to drag him up, or break him free of his torment. Vivi snapped her head up when Mystery began barking anew, and darting back and forth while his eyes were fixed on the specter. The entity swayed along with the rapid movement, unnatural motions as its body stretched far to one side then the other, then melted back into a resemblance of its form. The entity then became insubstantial, its body’s physical structure melting until it had nearly vanished into the air. The only evidence of its movement was the faint arks and green shimmer on the hard wood floor, creeping closer to where Vivi huddled with Arthur.

Mystery was at a loss of what to do. The dog pawed at wood and yipped, snapped and charged but nothing deterred the pale mist swirling around his snout.

In five sharp strikes, Vivi had inscribed runes on the floor between her and Arthur. She took up the sage Arthur was slumped over and held it up. Vivi couldn’t identify clearly where the mist of the entity was, it appeared little less than mist or more like green glitter trickling under the light of the candle flame. She fanned the sage in the general direction where Mystery sprint around pawing at the wood.

“You are repelled,” Vivi commanded. There was a sharp crackle, as the spirit glanced the edges of the runes indiscernible barrier. It flashed green and faded leaving bright spots in Vivi’s eyes, which the tinted glasses she wore only shielded the worst by some degree. “You’ll move back. Repel.” Vivi leaned back when the barrier surged once more, the sweet aroma of the sage overpowered by a hot acrid scent. 

The entity chattered as its shape became substantial for a moment, its lower body remained wispy as it slipped across the hard floor. Mystery yapped and dove in fast snapping for the dark shape, but the specter had again dissolved into vapor that pried and poked at the solid floor. 

Vivi shifted her gaze to the border of the runes as the air popped and hissed, the dark marks in the wood began to fade as trails of green blazed through the etching. Vivi snapped the graphite back to the floor and added to the rapidly fading symbols, but they were fading almost as fast as she could mark the floor.

“Mystery! Help Arthur get up!” Vivi snapped. As Mystery dashed to the group and took Arthur’s shirt sleeve, Vivi slammed the graphite to the floor and snapped the dark stick into five new pieces. She took one in each hand and began ravaging her thoughts for symbols of more convincing structure. “I might be able to keep it contained here, but you’re going to have to move. Please Arthur!”

Arthur’s pained groans became louder as he rocked side to side, nearly oblivious to Mystery’s hard tugs. “I’m sorry. So sorry,” he sobbed. “Please, don’t kill me. Please.”

The air buzzed with a loud crack. The entity swooped up from the floor boards and settled back a few feet in its more descriptive shape, eyes blazing and jagged smirk thinning. With another sputter of energy the specter opened its sharp arms and ascended to the peak of the ceiling, where it perched and hung upside down glaring at the group. Wispy curls of the mist drifted from the shoulders of the black cloak the specter wrapped about itself, it seemed to constrict into its dark body more as it emitted low chatters. From the floorboards below it a dark figure swelled up, the newcomer’s presence repelled off remaining tendrils of green and black that lingered on the dusty wood.

The dapper spirit straightened the bright magenta tie fixed to his collar line, before he tilt his skull up to scrutinized the dark shape that cackled overhead. “You,” he said, and directed a finger to the shattered window. “Get the FUCK out of my house!” To THAT the entity extended one wing and slanted, or compressed its body to one side and chattered at the other spirit, mocking.

“Real classy,” Vivi muttered. It wasn’t what she expected, and she didn’t intend for the spirit to overhear her. The dapper spirit whipped back to the collected group, its vacant eye sockets projected distress. This was all intuition on Vivi’s part, as it had appeared without its combed hair style or the flames in the pits of its eye sockets.

“What are you doing here?” the spirit snapped at them. “You were meant to leave, like, forever ago.”

Arthur pushed Mystery away as he moved his body into a sitting position, one arm was clasped to his bad shoulder. “You locked the door,” he said. “We were trapped.” Arthur winced when the spirit visibly turned its skull to fix him with a glare.

“Did you try the door handle?” the spirit hissed. Vivi looked at Arthur and slanted her brows, questioning. Arthur pressed his lips together and looked to Mystery, who only bent his ears far back and set a paw on Arthur’s knee in condolence. “You didn’t, did you? Ah mi me ayude.” The spirit pinched the space between its eye sockets.

For a time the envy specter was overlooked as it waited on the ceiling, softly chattering to itself. In a flash it shot downward, curving through the green mist that it had shed from its shoulders. Mystery began a sudden barrage of barks, in time for the dapper ghost to leap aside and avoid the wings of the bat inspired apparition’s sudden charge. The envy specter spun over as it bypassed its target, one wing snapped out to the blue locket pinned to the chest of its target.

The dapper ghost glides back from the attack, one arm held across the locket on his chest. “You are no longer held here,” he said. “It doesn’t matter anymore. Collect yourselves and leave!”

“We’re not abandoning you this time!” The spirit turned to Vivi as she stood up. “Not this time, Lew.”

The spirit stared at her, expression and eye sockets vacant. He recognized that look on Vivi’s face. Raw determination with a side of passion. Nothing in Lewis’ mortal existence could match it. “You’re not meant to remember,” was what he said. Lewis’ gave a shriek when the envy specter barreled into his shoulder from behind, fuchsia flames spread down the collar of his jacket and ribs as he spun around swinging an arm out for the cackling shape. The envy specter kicked out a thin clawed foot towards the locket on Lewis’ chest, green tendrils of mist worked from its flashing heart to enwrap the slowly thudding locket on the other spirits coat. “We are trying to have a conversation here!” Lewis snarled. Another slap and Lewis retreated, the envy specter did the same and perched on the moon soaked floorboards a few feet from Lewis.

“Tell us what you need!” Vivi called. She pulled the provision bag away from Arthur’s care and began rummaging through the interior pockets pulling out a few bottles. “We can’t let that thing get away to keep doing this to people! We’ll end it here and we’ll help you do it.” 

Mystery darted away from his companions snarling, charging straight for the black shape hunched on the floor. When Mystery had leapt at the envy specter, the apparition dispersed into a green mist and began rolling outwards away from the space the small dog had alit.

“You don’t understand,” Lewis said. He ducked as the cloaked specter solidified and darts downwards at his head and spiraled around his position, wings snapping at Lewis’ shoulders as the entity’s jaws cackled. Lewis himself dispersed into magenta globes that swirled upward, before combining into a large ball of fire that condensed into his death suit and skull. “Not meant to remember, not meant to know,” he said, voice weak. Lewis descends slowly as he wrapped his arms around his chest and braced for the bat apparition when it shot up at him. “It was my last wish.”

The air crackled and buzzed, green light blazing through the crevices of the upper ceiling when the envy specter connected with Lewis’ shape. Magenta flames swooshed upward as Lewis’ spasm and dropped, his shape hitting the floor boards sounded solid as the green mist lifted around his feet. For an agonizing moment the air was placid, but for a thin mist lifting from Lewis’ death suit. There was no sign of the envy specter as Lewis hunched forward, arms coiling over his chest.

Arthur felt at his shoulder sleeve, where the prosthetic was attached. He turned his eyes toward Lewis as understanding dawned. “Oh no.” He shuffled forward on his knees and took Vivi’s hand, but she snapped out of his grip and gave him a vicious glare. “Vi. Vi. We… bad, this is bad.”

“Why? What—” Vivi stopped when Mystery began new growls. Mystery turned his attention to Lewis trembling form, the dogs eyes were nearly glinting red as he padded in a careful circle around the prone figure. “Lewis?”

The cowering figure slowly uncoiled and straightened, emerald flames flare up from his skull line and down his shoulders. The edges of the flames licked around the once blue locket, but the coloration had warped and larger cracks appeared in the surface and sputter with green light. Within the pits of the dark eyes sockets, emerald eyes blazed on Vivi and Arthur.

“It wasn’t,” Arthur began. “I wasn’t the target at all.” His hand gripped tighter on his prosthetic as he began to shake. “It wanted Lewis.”

“No,” Vivi said. And for a moment Arthur believed she was in shock. Vivi was in shock and remembered everything. But she went on, “It can’t have him. We’ll exorcise it.”

“We can’t do that,” Arthur said as he moved to his feet. He leaned towards his bad side where the pain in his shoulder had lessened, but it still nipped into his nerves from the evening’s unkind treatment. “We don’t have any knowledge of how to exorcise a ghost from a… a ghost.” 

“We’ll try something,” Vivi hissed. Her eyes never left the green flames of the eye sockets. “But we are not leaving him like this.” When the skull tilted down, Vivi followed its gaze to the forgotten bundle of sage on the floorboards slowly burning to its last inch. A few of the symbols still remained but the ends were slowly being worked at by the green haze on the floor.

The spirit shuddered and its eyes dimmed, one hand strained to reach up and take the locket from the coat and raised it over its head. The burning eyes in its socket sputtered, altering from green to rosy and back to green. The other hand snapped up to take the sleeve of the arm holding the locket, as the light devouring flames upon its back swelled. Mystery’s growl tore off into harsh barks, the small dog sprang at the spirits legs as it stood there unmoving, quivering. Finally, its other hand lowered as it raised its fist high.

“No! No-no-no-no-NO!” Arthur launched himself at the dark spirit. His hard footfalls carried him to the possessed spirit in the blink of an eye, and he was sailing high at the spirits chest. The two toppled backwards, the spirit actually toppled. Back. Onto the floor beside Arthur as he fell, stunned by the impact he had not expected. While the spirit levitated onto its back and lifted out of Mystery’s reach, Arthur scrambled around to face it and snagged the sleeve of its death suit. “NO!” he snapped. “You took him from me once, but not again! On my life I swear—!” Vivi shouted something, but Arthur missed it as he met eyes with the specter’s green flames.

Emerald flames swelled around the two, Arthur cringed at the sensation of his nerves bristling to the suggestion of scalding fire. Arthur refused to release the arm of the suit, until the spirit had snared his bad shoulder in a bone crushing grip. Arthur gave a half cry as he was swung down onto the hard floor, agitated flames sweep off the shoulders of the spirit and flare across his skin and clothing.

Vivi looked up from where she worked. She had relocated to the near center of the floor, closer to where Arthur ‘wrestled’ with the spirit. She had the bag and a few of their supplies out on the floor as she worked like mad to draw the symbols, and recreate the suggestion of laws and commands that would restrain the hostile spirit and hopefully banish it. But there was no guarantee that Lewis would not follow, or of what would become of his spirit in the process. Vivi had tears streaming down her cheeks as she worked by the yellow candlelight, the realization of her actions and their intent driving a cold spike through her heart.

“ _I just wanna do what’s right,_ ” Vivi’s mind chanted. But good intentions have the off chance of delivering the most heartbreaking results. Vivi focused more on the script and lines she set down, trying to ignore the cries of Arthur as he was punished for his interference. The occasional flash of emerald comes, accompanied by the harsh screech of Arthur. “ _I don’t know what else to do! Please, let this work._ ”

Vivi made the mistake of looking up as Arthur came down hard onto the floor, a grotesque crack emitted from his prosthetic arm as he looped it tighter into his chest and curled up. Arthur’s eyes were nearly white as he gazed with terror onto the spirit that was holding his ankle. Frantically, Arthur dug his good elbow into the wood as his free leg kicked at the fist. The spirit didn’t flinch, it had averted its focus to the side where Vivi had crouched to mark up the floor with the graphite pieces.

“Run, Viv! Run!” Arthur shrieked. A feral snarl came from Mystery as he lunged, snapping his teeth around the sleeve of the spirit and jerked, dragging the arm holding Arthur’s leg.

The spirit spun its skull to Mystery and jerked its arm, but Mystery held tight and hauled the arm back. Mystery held on until the specter had wretched its arm away from the dog’s jaws, and spun around to send Arthur sailing out the open window. There was a short cry before the sound cut off.

“Arthur?” Vivi asked. She couldn’t lower her eyes from the broken window, the first highlights of dark blue stretching from the bare tree branches. “Arthur?” She was already crying, it seemed impossible to cry anymore but somehow she managed. Arthur was gone. She set her fist gently to the cold wood, and felt the warm gummy piece of graphite in her fingers. “You… can’t be gone.” 

Vivi barely took heed of the dark spirit as the fire on its shoulders bristled. The skull turned and examined the marks on the floor. It had never seen such language before, but it detected the intention. The draw of a compulsion to behave, follow the instructions and find its endnote. It didn’t care to be told what to do. A wave of fire gushed from the coat of the spirit, spreading green flames that ate up the natural light across the walls and floor. Vivi twitched when the roaring blaze crashed down over her, she reached for the sack of repelling effects and cowered behind it. 

But it was Mystery who darted between the wall of fire and the blue figure, absorbing the insatiable fury of the malicious spirit. A high pitched yelp came from the dog as Mystery shuddered and thudded in a heap to the floor.

Vivi dropped her bag the moment the fire dispersed and the light from the candle once again spread its pitiful light of gold over the white fur. “Mystery! No!” Vivi abandoned her mission and collected the limp dog in her arms. She stood up, eyes fixed on the spirit as it glides towards her. “Stay with me Mystery. Please,” she begged. The shallow breath of the dog was on her cheek, still alive for now. “Stay with me. Don’t leave me too. Not you too.”

The spirit drifts to the floor before Vivi and shifted its shoulders, as if bracing for some stroke of violence or assault, but faltered to act on this whim. For a moment it moved no further, and Vivi found that she had not made the retreat she had wanted. She was staring directly up into the dark eye sockets that glowered back at her.

“Lewis?” Vivi whispered. She twitched when the spirit raised its hands, green flames still fixed on her. The spirits hands rose to its chest and it gripped at the collar that ringed around beneath the suspended skull. Vivi took a step back as the spirit hunched forward, the fire along its shoulders subsiding as it leaned down to fumble with the containers left scattered on the floor. Before Vivi could question its motives, the spirit swung its arm out and knocked her back by the shoulder. Vivi gave a small sob as she hit the floor and curled around Mystery tighter. When she looked up, magenta fire had begun to work up the spirits backside and rose around the base of the skull.

“Not,” the spirit said, as it directed a container at its feet to the runes Vivi had scribbled down in haste. “Never.” Vivi recognized what the spirit was doing. It was making a circle of salt, a barrier. But it was building the barrier around itself. As it was fighting to close off the circle of white a bright fuchsia inferno engulfed the figure, followed by a dark mass of black smoke and green vapor. Vivi wrapped herself tighter around Mystery, recoiling from the prickling of heat intermixed with unnatural energy. “Yo te disipar. Yo te condeno.”

A raw screech tore from the spirit, as the black smog bellowing off the suit, condensed into the shape of the bat apparition and leapt from the shoulders of its host. Lewis reached out in a flash and tangled his arm with the specter’s luminous green mist, his own sleeve flashed with fuchsia flames. “You will not leave,” Lewis willed. Above him, the envy specter flattened its wings out struggling to rise. In his other hand, Lewis was carefully moving the salt container to finish the circle. “Stay with me. We’ll be together. You and me.” Lewis filled his thoughts with every dark desire, every cruel thought directed to Arthur. Arthur was the cause of his torment, the reason he was tethered to this world. He surrendered himself to temptation, and accepted the suggestive words of the envy specter as the only truth possible. “We’ll make him suffer. Together.” Lewis braced his heels into the floorboards and bided the specter, coerced it with what it fed on. 

Lewis could sense the envy specters resistance falter, its ravenous and cruel desire to hunt and destroy what it could never possess. A cold unfathomable pit had burrowed deep into the spirits essence, and its inescapable desire was to fill it with the warmth of those it envied. To steal away their light and confine them to the dark shadows that had become its sanctuary. “And find out what he fears most,” Lewis promised.

The envy specter chattered and raised the sharp wings above its head. _Tell me more_ , it yearned, _I like what you say_.

The flames on Lewis skull had faded and his eye sockets were cold and dark, but he managed to finish a simple circle of salt. Vivi had always criticized his circles, explaining the circle would only work its optimal if it was neat and near perfect. When the envy specter had descended within his reach, Lewis latched his other hand onto its knee where it had hidden its heart. The spirit squealed, eyes slitting and teeth gnashing as it pulled its shape upward, stretching skyward to escape.

“You and I,” Lewis whispered. He mustered every ounce of his spectral energy, pulling from a well he never knew existed in his insubstantial being. He twisted and fought, burning flames of spiritual essence through the body of the dark cloak, pulsing insufferable surges through the green heart quivering in his fist. “Never will we hurt anyone, ever….” Lewis’ eye sockets filled with magenta fire, his fist blazed rose fire and compressed the cold heart in his grip until it shattered. The envy specter thrashed in his grip, its black face engulfed in ravenous pink flames that tore it to shreds and scattered the remnants throughout the room. 

Vivi saw the flames and anticipated another eruption to decimate the room, if not the whole house. She tucked her face into Mystery’s fur and winced, as the air was filled with the crashing wail of the envy specter. The walls were engulfed in crackling flames of red, the floors shook, and she felt the rolling sear of the fire. But it never to wash over her shivering body.

At the sick green core within the apparition of hate and envy was a gnarled black arm, it too was vaporized and lost to the breeze from the open window. The fire subsided, flames licked dark wood and gradually dissipate until the room was flooded by predawn purple and blues. Then silence.

As before when she arrived into this room with Arthur and Mystery, the air was frigid and despondent. There was no light, the candlestick had fallen over and a thin wisp of white swirled upward in the pinks and reds crawling through the window. Vivi pried her eyes open when she picked up on the soft aroma of natural fire from the candle. The room was void of all life save for the dog breathing gently in her arms, and the wind rustling through the open window. She took a sharp breath when her eyes fell upon a tall figure poised a few feet away, arms slowly lowering from their recent position above his head. Vivi didn’t recognize him, and that hurt most of all somewhere deep in her soul, but she felt she SHOULD know him. The only familiar feature of him was the suit….

“Lewis?” Vivi sat up, careful of Mystery. She gave Mystery a soft kiss on his head and set him down, before turning back to the figure. His arms were lowered but he was still staring up at something unseen to her. Maybe nothing. “Lewis,” she said softer and stood up. “You are Lewis,” Vivi said, as if to remind him.

He didn’t turn to Vivi, but his head lowered from his stargazing. “I…” he hesitates. His voice was still hollow as if coming from nowhere, but it had lost the harsh crackle the spirit projection had rattled with. “I didn’t want to burden you with my loss. Didn’t want you to cry because of me. It’s the worst feeling. Causing pain.” He looked at his hands, examining over the black and white. “And knowing I was the cause.”

Vivi pressed her face into her dusty sleeves. “I have nothing of you,” she said. “I can only mourn that I knew you somewhere, that I had you and then I lost you. That’s not fair.” Vivi felt her shoulders shake, the tears on her palms hot. She wanted everything back. She wanted Lewis, wanted the memories of Lewis, good or bad. She needed Arthur, and to let him know she forgave him even if she didn’t feel the notion. And she craved the life before this disaster. She wanted to hold all that was stolen from her, and cherish it like rare treasures that glittered as if bewitched by fantastic flames. 

“Lewis,” Vivi said, rubbing at her eyes. “Can I… will you let me remember you, from before this. Please. I don’t care how much it’ll hurt, I just want the sensations to have meaning in my mind. I want to know who you were, and how much you meant to me. It’s… they are too precious to lose. Lewis?”

Lewis lowered his hands and turned to her, and Vivi swore there were tears in his eyes. “It was good seeing you again, mi arandano.” Vivi stepped forward, even when his body began to fade.

“No-NO! Lewis! Wait!” Vivi dashed to him, her arms outstretched to grab him, embrace him one last time. But Lewis had faded completely. “Don’t go! Stay with me. Please!” Vivi dropped to her knees and dusted away the remnants of the binding circle and sat back, staring up into the open space that Lewis had occupied precious moments before. It felt like years ago. “Lew. Don’t leave me alone.” She pulled the edge of her scarf up and pressed its soft fabric to her eyes. “I miss you too much.”

Vivi doesn’t recall how long she sat weeping. She cried until she had no more tears and her voice was hoarse and sore, her body going through the motions of sorrow until she ached in every inch under her skin. At some point Mystery had recovered and came over to her side. Mystery didn’t make a sound, didn’t touch his companion, he merely sat beside her and let her have this time.

“Mystery?” Vivi said, when she finally noticed her friend. “You’re okay.” Vivi leaned over and put her arms around the dog, Mystery leaned into her as she held him tightly. “I thought I was gonna lose you too.” To this, Mystery placed his nose to her forehead and nuzzled. “My wonderful, brave protector.” Mystery whined at her. After a time when Vivi began to settle down, Mystery wriggled out of her arms. “What is it?”

As always Mystery said nothing but padded toward the balcony window, a limp noticeable in his front paw. Vivi followed until her ears picked up the sounds of a voice, raspy and distressed. “Is that?” Vivi ran to the window and peered out. The first rays of the sun crept over the horizon, blazing through the gnarled branches of trees and spread long dark shades across the front lawn. Vivi searched below the broken window frame until the shadows faded over a yellow shape. “Arthur?”

Arthur hung a few feet down from the edge of the window. His flesh arm pawed uselessly at the twisted eaves of the roofs edge, while his metal arm remained slung across his chest. What probably contributed to his salvation was the sharp metal lace decoration that boarded the roofs edge; the corner section had snapped apart and one end was tangled into the back of his amber vest. He met Vivi’s eyes as she peered down the slanting roof to him.

“It’s really cold out here,” Arthur said, voice thin and raspy but he managed. “I’d rather be in there, with the ghosts, if you don’t mind.”

Mystery poked his head out over the shattered remains of the window and turned from Arthur, to look up at Vivi. Vivi choked on the air and fell to her knees, she didn’t know if she could cry anymore but she just giggled instead.

“Arthur,” she said. “I thought….” Vivi leaned over without another word and took his swollen wrist.

“Yeah?” Arthur grumbled. “If I was, I wouldn’t be out here—” He let out a cry as the roof decoration tangled at his vest snapped, he dropped a few inches and Vivi was dragged forward by his sudden weight. Mystery took Vivi’s sweater base between his teeth, as Vivi leaned over further to wrap her other arm around Arthur’s side. Once Arthur was safe and crawling with Vivi away from the ruined window, he collapsed to his side, his back facing Vivi. “Is everything safe?” he asked finally. “Where’s….” Arthur’s voice trailed off as he turned more on his side to see Vivi’s tear stricken face. “Oh.”

“Oh,” Vivi echoed. She sank down more into her sweater top. “The… enemy entity stopped when he turned on us.” Vivi reached to Mystery beside her and rubbed his ear. “He wouldn’t tolerate that.”

Arthur stared off at the walls of the balconies interior. Nothing was said for a long time. The walls of the room becoming less solid as the light from the sun fell upon the estate. “He was right,” Arthur said. “I was weak. I—” He stopped when Vivi set her hand on his shoulder but didn’t look at him.

“I don’t want to think about it anymore,” Vivi murmured. “Let’s just go. That’s what he wanted. It’s what we need now.”

Arthur made a sound of confirmation and sat up. Before he could move to his feet a look of petrification came over his face. Mystery saw his expression, and spun around barking into the interior of the balcony.

From the dark dreary ends raised a spirit, a shadow with tawny eyes and a gold heart center in its torso. As the group watched, the nondescript shape glides to the window and rises up into the sunlight and eventually vanishes. A second and third spirit emerge from the dark shadows, hearts fluttering and shapes fading as they reach the golden light of the dawn. They pay no mind to the three huddled on the edge of the window.

“What’s going on?” Arthur said. He stood up on his knees, arm cradled to his chest as he coaxed Vivi and Mystery away from the window. “These were the nondescripts that chased us around.”

Vivi helped Arthur to stand, they hunched over and followed Mystery as he padded to the side of a misty wall. “They must’ve congregated here for some reason,” she said. There were more spirits now, quietly moving on their migration. “The cave?”

Arthur shifted back closer to the wall. “Could be. But we’re not near that area,” Arthur said. “Not nearly.” 

“But we’re close then.” Vivi looked down, startled to see outlines of the lower floor. “We can’t stay here, this place is fading.” She took Arthur by the elbow and led him to the scatter of salt and symbols scratched into the floor. Vivi spared the area one last longing stare on the scorched wood, before helping to pack away what was salvageable and rushing to the door of the attic.

Spirits were still rising from the singed carpet of the foyer as the group hurried through to the front door. They only paused as Vivi struggled to collect the two remaining bags, and Arthur took the lighter bag of tools before they rushed out into the dawn. As Vivi looked back she could see more of the spirits, some not magenta, others peach and white, rising and fading into the sunlight.

“They were anchored there,” Arthur said at last. He stopped beside the van to rest his arms and watch. “By that evil thing.”

Vivi nodded. She tracked the gradual diminishing shadows of the walls, once so solid and imposing under the yellowed moonlight. As the structure fades by the minute, the windows became the arguably most solid feature of the mansion. Through the front patios entrance walls, the chandelier with its softly gleaming magenta fire still faithfully blazed across the remaining surfaces.

“And they found sanctuary in his memories,” Vivi murmured.

By the time the sun had risen fully over the trees, the departing spirits had vanished completely. The yard along with the entirety of the open lot was completely vacant of structure and life, the mansion had dissolved under the new day taking with it the answers as with its endless mysteries. Only the crumbling remains of a brick wall still stood beside the road, overtaken by sharp brambles and weeds. It was as if the events of that night had not transpired. The only evidence of the evening was the heavy exhaustion that griped the trio as they crawled into the van, and the scorched wool of Vivi’s favorite sweater from where fires had reached out to touch her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for your time readers, and for all the Kudos. I hope you enjoyed, and will tune in next time.
> 
> ##### Translations made through Yahoo Babel fish. There are errors.
> 
> Ah mi me ayude - Oh my help me  
> Yo te disipar - I dispel you  
> Yo te condeno - I condemn you
> 
> Mi arandano - My blueberry

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own characters. I make no money off of this. But hot damn, I hope the creator will make money off this one of these days.
> 
> ps. My first time uploading a story here. Trying to understand this magic. Please excuse my fuckery.


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